# How to Turn a Screen Recording into a GIF on Mac

Updated: November 12, 2026

Gifski: Price: Free. Platforms: macOS. Get it from: [App Store](https://apps.apple.com/app/id1351639930). Requires macOS 26 or later. Free older versions for macOS 13, 12, 11, 10.15, 10.14, and 10.13: [download](https://sindresorhus.com/gifski#older-versions).

URL: https://sindresorhus.com/guides/screen-recording-to-gif-mac

Press Shift+Command+5, record a part of the screen, and drop the recording on the free [Gifski](https://sindresorhus.com/gifski) app. It makes a GIF with sharp text and smooth colors. macOS can record the screen, but only as a video.

## With Gifski

1. Press Shift+Command+5, and click “Record Selected Portion” in the toolbar.
1. Drag the borders of the selection to the area that you want, and click “Record”.
1. To stop, click the stop button in the menu bar, or press Control+Command+Esc. By default, the recording is saved to the desktop.
1. Open [Gifski](https://sindresorhus.com/gifski), and drop the recording on its window, or click “Open”.
1. Trim the start and the end, and set the dimensions and the frame rate.
1. Click “Convert”, and then “Save”.

- Record only the area that you need. A small area makes a small GIF, and you can still crop the video in Gifski.
- A GIF of the screen often looks good at 10 to 15 frames per second, which makes the file much smaller.
- Gifski shows the estimated file size before you convert.

For a video that is not a screen recording, see [how to convert a video to a GIF](https://sindresorhus.com/guides/convert-video-to-gif-mac).

## Without an app

The screenshot toolbar and QuickTime Player save a screen recording as a video. They cannot save a GIF. [Apple’s instructions to record the screen.](https://support.apple.com/102618)

The Shortcuts app can convert the recording: make a shortcut with the “Make GIF” action, and give it the video. It has settings for the size and the loops, but not for the quality, and you cannot trim the video or see the result first.