System audio
Screen recording with system audio and mic
Both recorded, on separate tracks with separate gains, with no virtual audio driver to install first.
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This is the oldest complaint about screen recording on a Mac. macOS exposes no route to system audio through QuickTime, so the standard advice is to install a virtual audio driver like BlackHole, route your output through it, record, and then remember to route it back.
It works. It is also a kernel-adjacent audio driver installed to solve a recording problem, and it silently breaks your speakers the first time you forget the last step.
Both, directly, as separate tracks
Prequel captures system audio and your microphone alongside the screen, with no virtual device involved and nothing to switch back afterwards.
They are separate tracks with separate gains. That distinction is worth more than it sounds. A notification landing at full volume over a sentence is a slider afterwards instead of a reason to record the whole thing again, and a demo where the app's own sound matters can have that sound sitting under your narration at whatever balance you want rather than whatever balance the room happened to produce.
The webcam is a fourth track, captured at the same time and never burned into the screen recording.
Why your screen recording is black
If you have arrived here from a recording that came out black: that is almost always the Screen Recording permission. macOS hands back empty frames rather than an error when it has not been granted, which reads as a broken app rather than a missing checkbox. Grant it under Privacy and Security in System Settings, then start the recording again.
What you get out
One MP4, H.264 or HEVC, at up to 4K and up to 120 frames per second, at a constant frame rate — which is what keeps audio in sync after an upload.
Recording, editing and export all happen locally, on your Mac's own media engine. Nothing is uploaded to produce the file.
- Record your screen and cameraPick a display, a window or an area you drag out, with your camera, microphone and system audio each on their own track.
- Zooms and layout are applied automaticallyPrequel reads where you clicked and typed, then places the zooms, frames your camera and sets a background behind it.
- Edit, export and shareMove a zoom, trim a clip or fix a caption, then export one MP4 at up to 4K or send a link that plays anywhere.
Zoom and pan
Zooms that follow the action
Prequel automatically zooms in when you click or type, then softens the rest of the window so viewers know where to look. Every zoom is added to the timeline, so you can move, retime or delete it at any time.
Layouts
Switch layouts clip by clip
Choose from fourteen layouts for the same take: camera in the corner, beside the screen, split with it or hidden entirely. Use one layout for the whole video, or change it clip by clip.
Subtitles
Subtitles you can edit like text
Prequel transcribes every word on your Mac when the editor opens. Fix captions by typing in the transcript, choose a subtitle style or delete a sentence to remove it from the video.
Thisisthecheckoutweshippedlastweek
Thisisthecheckoutweshippedlastweek
Thisisthecheckoutweshippedlastweek
Thisisthecheckoutweshippedlastweek
Thisisthecheckoutweshippedlastweek
Thisisthecheckoutweshippedlastweek
Thanks so much for jumping on this call
Iwanttoshowyousomethingcool
[pause here]
we’ve been building for the past few months
Teleprompter
A teleprompter that follows your voice
Prequel hangs your script from the notch, just under the camera, and follows your voice — the word you're saying lights up as you say it. Wander off script and it waits for you; skip ahead or fall behind and it catches up within a couple of words.
Instant edit
Start with the edit already done
Prequel records where you click and type, then opens the editor with zooms already placed, a framed camera and a polished background. Spend less time building the first cut and more time fine-tuning.
- Zooms placedOn every click and every burst of typing
- Camera framedShaped, sized and set in a corner
- Background appliedPadding, radius, border and shadow
- Audio balancedMicrophone and system on separate gains
- Cursor cleaned upSmoothed, resized, hidden when it idles
The editor
Everything you would have done by hand
It opens by itself when you stop recording, on the take you just made. Nothing to import, nothing to line up.
Guide attention automatically
Prequel zooms into the part of the screen that matters: the cursor, a region you draw, or whatever you are typing into. Set the level, the speed and how much the rest of the frame blurs.
Look present without taking over the video
Your camera stays framed and out of the way: circle, squircle, rounded, wide or portrait, in any corner and any size. It is never burned into the recording, so none of it is decided while you record.
Make recordings look designed
Add a background, padding and a shadow without editing any of it by hand. Your own wallpaper by default, seven bundled presets, gradients and solids.
Cut the parts nobody needs to see
Trim the pauses yourself, slice by slice, with a waveform under every clip. Layout, background and audio can all change mid-take.
Keep the pointer out of the way
Fifteen pointer styles, resized so the cursor survives a zoom. Smoothed while it travels, and hidden after a few seconds of stillness.
Export the frame you approved
The preview and the exporter draw the same plan, so the file matches what you signed off in the editor.
Quality
Videos stay sharp at 4K
Capture and export run on your Mac's own media engine. 1080p at 60 fps records without dropping frames, and 4K is a setting you pick.
- Resolution
- Up to 4K
- Frame rate
- Up to 120 fps
- Codecs
- H.264 · HEVC
- Encoding
- Hardware, VideoToolbox
- Compositing
- Metal
- Output
- Constant frame rate MP4
Formats
Export in any frame
Turn one recording into different formats without manually reframing every element. Switch from landscape to vertical and the layout stays intact.
- Landscape 16:9
- 4K
- Vertical 9:16
- Square 1:1
- Portrait 4:5
- YouTube
- Shorts
- TikTok
- Reels
- X
Record demos worth sharing
Free for 7 days. No watermark on anything you export.
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Curious about the internals? Read the blog
FAQ
Zooms, exports and the rest
Do I need to install BlackHole or a virtual audio driver?
No. macOS gives no route to system audio through QuickTime, which is why the usual advice is to install a virtual driver and route your output through it. Prequel captures system audio directly, so there is nothing to install and nothing to switch back afterwards.
Are the microphone and system audio recorded separately?
Yes — two tracks, two files, two gains, kept apart all the way to the export. That is what makes the balance an adjustment rather than a re-record: nothing is mixed down until you ask for the MP4.
Can I record system audio without my microphone?
Yes — each is switched on independently before you record. A recording with system audio and no microphone is the usual shape for capturing a video call playing on your screen or a piece of software making a sound worth hearing.
Why is there no sound in my screen recording?
Either the source was not switched on before recording, or the Microphone permission was never granted. System audio rides the Screen Recording grant, so it works as soon as the screen does; the microphone is a separate permission macOS asks for the first time you use it.
Can I fix the balance after recording?
Yes, and that is why they are kept apart. Each track has its own gain and its own mute, set per clip, so the music under a demo can drop for the sentence that matters and come back afterwards.
Why is my screen recording black?
Almost always the Screen Recording permission. macOS returns empty frames rather than an error when it has not been granted, which reads as a broken app. Grant it in System Settings under Privacy & Security, then start the recording again.
What do I need to record system audio on a Mac?
An Apple Silicon Mac on macOS 14 or later and the Screen Recording permission — that one grant carries system audio as well as the picture. Recording your microphone alongside it needs macOS 15 or later, where it rides the same capture stream, plus the Microphone permission.