Mac Screen Recording Stops by Itself? Causes and Fixes

If your Mac screen recording stops by itself, the usual cause is lost Screen Recording permission or a full disk. Turn the permission back on in System Settings ▸ Privacy & Security and relaunch the app, or free up space on your startup disk. Then start a new recording. The message on screen tells you which cause you hit, and the table below matches each message to its fix.

This page quotes the exact messages from Screen Bolt, our Mac screen recorder, because it names each failure. If you use the built-in recorder (⇧⌘5, Shift-Command-5, or QuickTime Player), see the section on it near the end.

If Screen Bolt has already quit, read "Recover what was captured" before you open it again. Every launch deletes leftover ScreenBolt_ files from the temporary folder, and those files may be the only copy of your take.

Why your screen recording stopped by itself: match the message

Screen Recording permission was revoked mid-recording

Symptom: the recording ends and a red banner under the recording bar says "Screen Recording permission was revoked". It tells you to re-grant access in System Settings ▸ Privacy & Security and start a new recording.

Why it happens: Screen Bolt captures through Apple's ScreenCaptureKit, which needs permission for the whole take. If access goes away, the capture ends. That happens when Screen Bolt is switched off in privacy settings while it's recording. On macOS 15 Sequoia and later, macOS also asks about once a month whether an app may keep recording your screen. When that prompt appears, approve it rather than dismissing it.

Fix:

1. If you want the partial take, recover it first (see "Recover what was captured"). The relaunch in step 4 deletes it.
2. Open System Settings, click Privacy & Security, then open Screen Recording. On macOS 15 and later it's called Screen & System Audio Recording. If you can't find it, search System Settings for "screen recording".
3. Turn on Screen Bolt.
4. Quit Screen Bolt and open it again. On macOS 14 Sonoma the permission only takes effect after a full relaunch.
5. Check the status: choose Help ▸ Screen Bolt Help (⌘?, Command-?) and look at the Screen Recording row under Permissions. It should say Granted. The Open Settings button next to it opens the right pane.
6. Start a new recording. The old take can't be resumed.

If macOS keeps asking for access, see why your Mac keeps asking for Screen Recording access.

Running out of disk space

Screen Bolt checks free space twice, and each check has its own message.

• Before recording (red): "Not enough free disk space to record safely. Need at least <X> available, only <Y> free on the output volume. Free up space and try again." Screen Bolt won't start a recording unless there's room for 60 minutes at the estimated bitrate.
• During recording (amber): a banner that starts "Low disk space" and ends "Recording continues; consider stopping soon." The recording hasn't stopped yet, but you're getting close. If space runs out completely, the file can't be written any further.

Why it happens: while you record, the raw file goes to the macOS temporary folder on your startup disk. When you stop, Screen Bolt moves it into your projects folder. So keep space free on the startup disk, even if your projects folder is on another drive.

Fix:

1. When the amber warning appears, finish your sentence and click Stop. Wait until "Finishing..." goes away.
2. Open System Settings ▸ General ▸ Storage and remove what you don't need.
3. Empty the Trash. Deleting a Screen Bolt project with Delete Recording moves it to the Trash, so you only get the space back after you empty it.
4. To write less data per minute, set Settings ▸ Quick export ▸ Frame rate to 30 FPS. This setting also controls the recording frame rate. Recording a Window or an Area instead of a whole Display also captures fewer pixels.

A take that ends with the amber banner "Recording finished with <N> dropped frame(s)…" didn't stop early. It finished, but parts may stutter. Screen Bolt names the likely cause as "slow disk or thermal throttle". See choppy screen recording fixes for that, and how long you can screen record on a Mac to estimate how long your free space will last.

The writer failed or the recording couldn't be finalized

These messages mean the recording ended because the file couldn't be written or finished:

• "Recording stopped: the writer failed (<reason>). The output file may be truncated."
• "Recording stopped unexpectedly: <error>. The output file may be truncated."
• "The recording could not be finalized, so there is nothing to edit. Please try recording again."
• "There is no finished recording to open in the editor."

The part in parentheses or after the colon is the underlying error and your most useful clue. Write it down before you dismiss the banner.

Fix:

1. Leave Screen Bolt open and recover what you can (see "Recover what was captured").
2. If the reason mentions space or the disk, follow the disk space steps above.
3. Record a 10-second test with the same source. If it fails again, choose Don't record camera in the Camera menu and Don't record microphone in the Mic menu, then try once more. That tells you whether a device is involved.
4. If it still fails, report it with the exact message (see the last section).

Quitting the app mid-recording

If Screen Bolt quits while a recording is running, it doesn't finish the file. That includes ⌘Q (Command-Q), Quit from the Dock, and logging out or restarting the Mac. No project is created. The partial raw file stays in the temporary folder only until Screen Bolt next launches. Then it's deleted.

To end a take safely, click Stop and wait until "Finishing..." disappears. You can also press ⌃⌘↩ (Control-Command-Return), but only while Screen Bolt is the active app. With the default After recording setting, the editor then opens. If you chose Export to file, Finder shows the exported file instead. Quit only after that.

Recordings you stopped without meaning to

Some recordings that seem to stop by themselves were actually ended by one of these:

• The start/stop shortcut. ⌃⌘↩ also stops the current recording whenever Screen Bolt is the active app. For example, if you just clicked into the teleprompter and then press it, the take ends.
• Discard and restart. This button deletes the take and returns to setup without creating a project. The recording can't be recovered.
• Pause. A paused recording shows an amber status dot. Click Resume and it continues, with screen, cameras and cursor still in sync. Pressing Space with the teleprompter focused pauses the scrolling script, not the recording.
• Quick export on the free version. If After recording is set to Export to file, Screen Bolt goes back to the bar after each take. On the free version, a take longer than 3 minutes fails to export and no message appears. The recording itself is safe. Choose File ▸ Show previous projects and open it from your projects folder.

Recover what was captured

If Screen Bolt is still open

1. Check whether a project was created. Choose File ▸ Show previous projects to open your projects folder (by default ~/Screen Bolt Projects), or look in File ▸ Open recent.
2. If the take isn't there, choose File ▸ Recover unfinished recordings.... This opens the newest ScreenBolt_*.mov from the temporary folder in the editor. If you see "No unfinished recordings", no partial file is left.
3. Right-click the clip on the timeline and choose Reveal Source in Finder.
4. Copy the file to your Desktop or another folder. Copy any ScreenBolt_webcam_… or ScreenBolt_webcam2_… files next to it too, because they hold your camera footage.
5. Edit and export as usual, with these limits:
   • A recovered video opens without a project, so your edits are not saved.
   • It has no cursor data, so auto zoom and cursor effects don't apply. You can still add zoom regions by hand.
   • On the free version, exports are capped at 3 minutes and 720p and carry a watermark.

If Screen Bolt has quit

Don't open Screen Bolt yet. Find the file first.

1. Open Terminal (in Applications ▸ Utilities) and run the command below. It opens your user temporary folder in Finder and changes nothing:

open "$TMPDIR"

2. Look for files named ScreenBolt_<timestamp>.mov and ScreenBolt_webcam_<timestamp>.mov.
3. Copy them to your Desktop. Once the copies are there, it's safe to open Screen Bolt again.
4. Try opening the copy in QuickTime Player. A take that was never finished properly may not open at all. That's why you should always click Stop before quitting.

For other ways to get a lost file back, see how to recover a lost screen recording on Mac.

If you use the built-in Mac recorder

The Screenshot toolbar and QuickTime Player don't show messages like the ones above, but check these:

• The stop shortcut. ⌃⌘Esc (Control-Command-Escape) stops a built-in screen recording. It's easy to press by accident.
• Disk space. No app can keep recording once the disk is full. Check System Settings ▸ General ▸ Storage before a long take.
• Finding the file. If you're not sure anything was saved, see where screen recordings go on Mac.

Screen Bolt won't start a recording unless there's room for an hour, and it warns you while recording if space runs low. The free version doesn't limit recording length, though its exports are capped at 3 minutes and 720p and carry a watermark. You can download Screen Bolt free.

When to contact support

Contact us if the same error happens on a short test recording when you have enough free space and the permission is granted.

1. In Screen Bolt, choose Help ▸ Report an Issue…. This opens a pre-filled email with your app version, macOS version, Mac model and permission states. Nothing is sent until you send the email yourself. You can also click Copy Diagnostics in the Screen Bolt Help window and paste the text anywhere.
2. Add the exact banner text, including the part in parentheses.
3. Say which source you used (Display, Window or Area), whether a camera or mic was on, and roughly how long into the take it stopped.

More fixes are on our Screen Bolt troubleshooting page and the support page. For problems with the built-in recorder, contact Apple Support. If recording never starts at all, see screen recording not working on Mac.