Record screen as GIF on Mac for free

Mac has the built-in tool to help us record screencasts, take screenshots out of hte box. But if you need to capture GIF from screen on Mac, you still need a third-party screen capture or GIF maker, such as Gifox GIF recording for Mac, LICEcap GIF capture for Mac. Today, we will use the LICEcap free GIF capture for Mac in the demo show you how to record screen to GIF on Mac for free.

Capture screen as GIF on Mac

Download the free GIF recorder program from previous linked page. Then click the Apple icon from top menu bar, choose System Preferences…. > Security & Privacy > Screen Recording and allow LICEcap app to record the contents of your screen even while using other apps.

Bring anything you want to record, like apps or windows, up to the front on your Mac. Adjust the size of the window or app if necessary. Then run LICEcap GIF recorder app on your Mac. A square frame will open. Drag and drop the LICEcap frame over anything you like to record on your Mac display. Drag the borders of LICEcap window to include anything you want to record in its frame. When you resize LICEcap window, you will see the change of its width and height in the Size boxes below the frame. The default frame per second is set to 8 by default, you can change it if like.

record screen as gif on Mac using licecap
record screen as gif on Mac using licecap

Click the Record …. button at the bottom right corner, you will see a pop-up dialog where you can choose a file name for the GIF file, select a location to save it, and customize several other parameters of the GIF file. Click Save button to start recording. You will then find the status turns to recording at the top bar of the recording area. The Record button became the Pause button and the Stop button next to it is no longer grayed out. These changes indicate a recording is in progress. You can pause and resume the GIF capture anytime you need. To stop the screen to GIF recording, simply click the Stop button at the bottom right corner of the recording window. Your screen will captured as GIF and automatically saved to the selected destination folder on your Mac.

GIF screencasts recording alternatives for Mac

As we mentioned in the opening paragraph there are many other third-party GIF capture and makers can help you record GIF screencasts on Mac. Except LICEcap, you can also choose Gifox GIF recording for Mac, another great GIF capturing and sharing program. Check out this tutorial to record screen into GIF using Gifox on Mac.

For existing screen recording videos, you can convert them to GIF animated files using video to GIF converters, such as PicGIF and Drop to GIF apps.