How to Use Presenter Overlay on Mac (Small vs Large)
Turn on Presenter Overlay on Mac, choose Small or Large, check what it needs, and see when a webcam overlay you can restyle after recording works better.
To use Presenter Overlay on a Mac, turn on your camera in an app that supports it and start sharing your screen. Then open the video effects menu (the camera icon in the menu bar, or Video Effects in Control Center) and choose Small or Large under Presenter Overlay. It's built into macOS 14 Sonoma and later, and it's free.
Presenter Overlay works well for live calls. For recorded videos it has limits. The effect is baked in while you capture, so you can't move, resize or restyle yourself afterward. If you need that control, use a screen recorder with its own webcam overlay.
What Presenter Overlay is
Presenter Overlay is a macOS video effect that puts you on top of the content you're sharing, so viewers see your face and your screen in one frame. It has two modes:
- Small: you appear in a movable bubble over your shared screen.
- Large: your shared screen is framed next to you, and you stay in the foreground.
The effect runs live while you share. The app you're presenting in receives video that already has you composited into it.
What Presenter Overlay needs on your Mac
- macOS 14 Sonoma or later. The effect doesn't exist on macOS 13 or earlier.
- A supported Mac. Not every Mac gets every video effect. If Presenter Overlay never appears on your Mac, check Apple's requirements by searching "Presenter Overlay" on Apple Support.
- A camera in use. The video effects options only appear while an app is using a camera.
- Active screen sharing in an app that supports it. Presenter Overlay is tied to screen sharing. If the app isn't sharing your screen, the option isn't offered.
Turn on Presenter Overlay on Mac: Small or Large
- Open the app you'll present in and turn on your camera.
- Start sharing your screen (a window or the whole display, depending on what the app offers).
- Click the camera icon in the menu bar. It appears while an app is using your camera. If you don't see it, open Control Center and look for Video Effects.
- Under Presenter Overlay, click Small or Large.
- In Small mode, drag the bubble to the part of the screen you need least.
- To stop the effect, turn it off in the same menu or stop sharing your screen.
Which mode to pick
| Small | Large | |
|---|---|---|
| What viewers see | Your screen, with you in a bubble | You in front, your screen framed beside you |
| Screen readability | Most of the screen stays readable | Screen content takes less of the frame |
| Best for | Software walkthroughs, code, dashboards | Talks and pitches where you matter more than the on-screen detail |
| What to watch | The bubble can hide a menu or button you need | Lighting affects how cleanly you're separated from your room |
If your screen has small text, such as a terminal, a spreadsheet or a settings panel, use Small. Large shrinks the content, so fine detail gets hard to read once the video is compressed or watched in a small player.
Limits of Presenter Overlay in screen recordings
Presenter Overlay was built for live screen sharing. If you use it to make a recording, keep these points in mind:
- It's baked in. You can't move the bubble, change its size, switch modes or remove yourself while editing.
- No styling. You get Apple's look. There are no settings for border, corner roundness, shadow or aspect ratio.
- The position is fixed in the video. Wherever the bubble sat at each moment is what the video shows. If it covered a button halfway through, that button stays covered.
- It depends on the app. The option only appears while an app is using your camera and sharing your screen. Check that the app you plan to record with offers it before you rely on it.
- Large mode depends on your room. Even lighting and some distance from the wall behind you help. Any rough edges around your hair or shoulders end up in the video.
For a call, none of this matters much. For a tutorial or demo you'll publish, it often does.
Other ways to show your face on a screen recording
Built in: a floating QuickTime camera window
This free workaround needs no extra app:
- Open QuickTime Player and choose File > New Movie Recording. A live camera window opens.
- Choose View > Float on Top so the camera window stays above your other windows.
- Resize the window and drag it into a corner.
- Record your screen with the Screenshot toolbar (โโง5, Command-Shift-5) or with QuickTime's File > New Screen Recording.
The camera window is recorded as part of your screen, so it has the same problem as Presenter Overlay: it's baked in. It also looks like a plain window, not a styled overlay. For a face in the corner of a quick internal video, that's enough. For more on the built-in recorder, see QuickTime screen recording on Mac.
A recorder with its own webcam overlay
We make Screen Bolt, a Mac screen recorder that records each camera to its own file and lines it up with the screen recording. You decide where you appear and what the overlay looks like after you've finished recording.
- In the Screen Bolt recording bar, choose Display, Window or Area.
- Click Camera and pick your camera from the menu. A round preview bubble appears on screen so you can check your framing. The bubble isn't captured in the recording. Hide camera preview hides it while the camera keeps recording.
- Optional: if you have a second camera, such as an iPhone through Continuity Camera, pick it under Second camera. For an iPhone or iPad, turn on Record iPhone audio if you want the phone's mic.
- Click the red record button. When you stop, the editor opens (the default After recording setting).
- In the editor's Webcam panel, set how the camera looks. What you can change after recording:
| Setting | Options |
|---|---|
| Position | Bottom Left, Bottom Right, Top Left, Top Right |
| Aspect | Native, 1:1, 4:5, 16:9 |
| Size | 8%โ40% |
| Roundness | 0โ100% |
| Border, Border color, Border opacity | Border width 0โ8 px |
| Border Beam | Animated edge light with Beam color and Speed |
| Shadow | Blur, Strength and Offset Y |
| Opacity | 30%โ100% |
| Mirror | On or off |
New projects start with the camera as a softly rounded 4:5 card in the bottom-left corner at 17% size. The styling for both cameras is included in the exported video.
Two features go beyond Presenter Overlay:
- Fullscreen Moments. Mark an In and Out point on the timeline, then click Add from Marked Range, and your camera takes over the whole frame for that section. Use it for an intro, an outro, or a cut from screen to face and back. More in how to switch between webcam and screen in a video.
- A second camera. Camera 2 has its own position and styling, so you can show your face and a second angle at the same time. See how to record your screen with two cameras on Mac.
What Screen Bolt can't do here: the camera sits in one of the four corners, and you can't drag it to any other spot. It doesn't remove your background (the Remove Background toggle currently has no effect), so there's no equivalent of the Large mode. If you use Export to file to skip the editor, only the first camera is rendered.
Screen Bolt runs on macOS 14 or later. The free version records without a time limit, but exports are watermarked, capped at 3 minutes and limited to 720p. As of November 2026, Pro is a $79 one-time purchase (see pricing).
For the full webcam workflow, see how to add a webcam overlay to your screen recordings on Mac.
Which method to use
| Presenter Overlay | QuickTime floating window | Screen Bolt webcam overlay | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cost | Free, built in | Free, built in | Free version (watermark, 3 min, 720p); $79 one-time for Pro |
| Change position after recording | No | No | Yes (four corners) |
| Style (shape, border, shadow) | No | No | Yes |
| You in front of your content | Yes (Large) | No | No |
| Second camera | No | No | Yes |
| Best for | Live calls and quick shares | Fast internal clips | Tutorials, demos and videos you'll publish |
- Use Presenter Overlay if you're presenting live, or you want the "you in front of your screen" look from Large mode and don't need to edit.
- Use the QuickTime window if you need a face in the corner of a quick video and don't care how it looks.
- Use a recorder with a webcam overlay if you want to fix the camera's position after recording, match a brand look, or cut between your face and the screen.
If Presenter Overlay doesn't show up or doesn't work
There's no camera icon in the menu bar. It only appears while an app is using your camera. Turn the camera on in your app first, then check Control Center for Video Effects.
The menu is there, but Presenter Overlay is missing. You're probably not sharing your screen yet, or the app doesn't support it. Start screen sharing and check again. If it's still missing, check your macOS version under Apple menu > About This Mac. You need macOS 14 or later.
It never appears on your Mac at all. Your Mac model may not support it. Check Apple's requirements on Apple Support.
Large mode looks patchy around your edges. Add light in front of you and move a little farther from the wall behind you. A background close to your hair or clothing color makes the edges worse.
The camera image is black or frozen. Another app may be holding the camera, or camera permission may be off for your app. Open System Settings, search for "Camera", and make sure your app is allowed. Quit other apps that use the camera, then restart the share. The webcam test shows whether the camera works at all.
The bubble covers something important in your recording. You can't fix that in editing. Re-record with the bubble moved, or switch to a recorder that keeps the camera as a separate file.
FAQ
Is Presenter Overlay free? Yes. It's part of macOS 14 Sonoma and later on supported Macs. There's nothing to download.
Can I move or resize the Presenter Overlay bubble after recording? No. You can drag the Small bubble while you're live, but the video keeps whatever position it had at each moment.
What's the difference between Presenter Overlay and picture-in-picture? Picture-in-picture is the general idea of one video over another. Presenter Overlay is Apple's live version for screen sharing. See what picture-in-picture video is for more.
How should I set up a recorded presentation with my face on screen? Keep your camera small in a corner during the walkthrough, and give yourself the full frame for the intro and outro. How to record a presentation with webcam on Mac covers it step by step.