Common Issues

Solutions to frequently encountered problems.

Black Screen During Recording

If you see a black screen instead of your captured content:

Screen Recording permission is likely not granted or has been revoked.

Open System Settings > Privacy & Security > Screen Recording
Check that Recorded is listed and enabled
If it’s listed but recording still shows black, remove Recorded from the list (click the minus button), then relaunch the app to trigger the permission prompt again
Quit and reopen Recorded after changing permissions — macOS requires a restart for screen recording permission changes to take effect

Ensure no other screen recording or streaming software (OBS, etc.) is actively capturing the same screen — some capture APIs do not support shared access.
Update your GPU drivers to the latest version, as outdated drivers can cause capture failures.
If using Window mode, make sure the target window is not minimized.

Verify the microphone toggle is enabled in the main window before recording.
Check that the correct microphone device is selected — click the device dropdown to see all available microphones.
Look at the audio level indicator. If the bars don’t move when you speak, the microphone may not be working or the wrong device is selected.
macOS: Go to System Settings > Privacy & Security > Microphone and ensure Recorded has access.
Windows: Go to Settings > Privacy > Microphone and ensure Recorded has access.

Verify the system audio toggle is enabled in the main window before recording.
macOS: System audio capture requires Screen Recording permission. If screen capture works but system audio is silent, try removing and re-adding the Screen Recording permission.
Windows: System audio uses WASAPI loopback. If it’s not working, check that your audio output device is set correctly in Windows sound settings.

Ensure no other screen recording application is running simultaneously — they can conflict with Recorded’s capture APIs.
On macOS, try granting all required permissions (Screen Recording, Microphone, Camera) and restarting the app.
Check that you have sufficient disk space — Recorded needs free space to write the raw recording files.

Disk space: Check available disk space. Export creates a new video file that can be several hundred megabytes for long recordings at high quality.
GPU drivers: Update your GPU drivers for better hardware acceleration support. See Hardware Acceleration.
Resolution: Try exporting at a lower resolution (e.g., 720p instead of 4K) to rule out GPU encoder limits.
Memory: Close other memory-intensive applications during export, especially for long recordings.

Check that your camera is not being used by another application (video call apps, other recording tools).
macOS: Verify camera permission in System Settings > Privacy & Security > Camera.
Windows: Verify camera permission in Settings > Privacy > Camera.
Try unplugging and reconnecting an external webcam.
If the camera was recently connected, you may need to restart Recorded for it to appear in the device list.

Update to the latest version of Recorded — many crashes are fixed in newer releases.
Restart the application.
If the issue persists, contact support through Settings > Contact Us with a description of what you were doing when the crash occurred.