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4 Ways to Stop QuickTime Screen Recording on Mac Monterey/Big Sur/Catalina and Earlier

Lynn Hu Lynn Hu
Oct 13, 2021 (Updated: Oct 31, 2022)Filed to: Solution

QuickTime Player can be your free screen recorder on Mac. You can record screen video and audio on MacBook Pro and MacBook Air without installing. From the QuickTime File drop-down list, you can make a video/audio recording on Mac for free.

Then how about stop screen recording with QuickTime? Well, some people may not find where the stop screen recording option is. The QuickTime screen recording not stop problem is also troublesome. To stop screen recording in QuickTime on Mac successfully, you can do as the following paragraphs show.

Part 1: 4 Ways to Stop QuickTime Screen Recording on Mac

Here’re 4 different ways to end a screen recording on Mac with QuickTime Player. You can stop or force quit QuickTime screen recording on Mac with ease.

Way 1: Stop and Save Mac QuickTime Screen Recording

The first way to stop screen recording in QuickTime is using its Stop button. It is slightly different to stop a QuickTime screen video recording and QuickTime audio recording on Mac.

How to Stop Screen Recording on Mac with QuickTime

The Mac QuickTime stops recording button is a grey icon with a black square side. You can find the stop QuickTime screen recording with audio button on the top toolbar on your Mac computer screen.

Click the Stop icon to end up QuickTime screen recording. Then you can get a recorded video in the MOV format within QuickTime Player. That’s how you stop and save QuickTime screen recording to MOV on Mac.

Quit Quicktime Activity monitor

How to Stop Audio Recording on Mac with QuickTime

It is also a grey icon with a black square inside. You can find the QuickTime stop audio recording icon in the floating Screen Recording window.

Once you choose New Audio Recording from the top QuickTime File drop-down list, a new QuickTime audio recording starts automatically. To stop and save an audio recording on Mac with QuickTime, you can click the Stop icon. Choose Save from the file list to save a recorded QuickTime audio file in M4A format.

Quicktime Stop Audio Recording

Way 2: Stop QuickTime Screen Recording with Keyboard Shortcuts

The QuickTime stop recording shortcut is Control, Command, and ESC keys. You can quickly stop and save a QuickTime screen recording via the key combination.

Step 1.Start a screen recording on Mac by using QuickTime as usual.

Step 2.Hold and press Control, Command, and ESC keys simultaneously on your keyboard.

Step 3.QuickTime stops recording and saves it into a MOV video on desktop immediately.

Way 3: Force Quit QuickTime Screen Recording

As for the QuickTime didn’t stop screen recording problem, you use the Mac force quit function. Just force quit QuickTime Player to stop all recording activities. However, your ongoing QuickTime screen recording may be unsaved.

Step 1.Choose Force Quit from the top Apple drop-down list.

Step 2.In the Force Quit Applications window, scroll down and choose QuickTime Player.

Step 3.Click Force Quit to stop QuickTime Player screen recording.

Force Quit Quicktime

Way 4: Stop a QuickTime Screen Recording with Activity Monitor

Or you can use Activity Monitor to end screen recording in QuickTime. It is a good way to troubleshoot QuickTime screen recording not working issues. Also, your QuickTime screen recording file won’t be saved through this way.

Step 1.Open Finder and choose Applications. Then head to Utilities and launch Activity Monitor.

Step 2.Use Spotlight to quickly find QuickTime Player in the Activity Monitor window.

Step 3.Click x on the top to Quit QuickTime Player and stop screen recording on Mac.

Quit Quicktime activity Monitor

Part 2: Cannot Stop QuickTime Recording? Here Is Your Alternative Solution

QuickTime Player is a simple Mac screen recorder for basic usages. If you want to get a better screen recording experience, AnyRec Screen Recorder is your better choice. You can add annotations, enable webcam, use hotkeys, pause/resume recording, and set scheduled tasks while recording screen video. To be more specific, you can record internal audio on Mac without Soundflower or BlackHole. It can also be your QuickTime Player for Windows alternative.

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Record system audio without installing QuickTime Soundflower or BlackHole.

Add annotations and drawings to your recording video.

Export screen video to QuickTime MOV, MP4, AVI, WMV, etc.

Auto start and stop recording screen video and audio.

Share screen recording video to YouTube, Facebook, Vimeo, etc.

Compatible with Windows 11/10/8.1/8/7/Vista/XP and Mac OS X 10.10 or above.

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Part 3: FAQs of QuickTime Screen Recording on Mac

Now you can start and stop recording screen video and audio on Mac with QuickTime Player. The QuickTime stop screen recording option is on the top Recording Bar. You can finish a screen recording by clicking the Stop icon in one click. As for the can’t stop or save QuickTime recording problem, you can use Force Quit and Activity Monitor as solutions. Or you can use AnyRec Screen Recorder to record screen video with computer audio and microphone losslessly.

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