Saved as you record
The take reaches the disk continuously rather than at the end, so there is no single moment where an hour of work depends on one save going well.
Crash recovery
A crash at minute fifty does not cost you the take.
The recording reaches the disk while you are still talking, so an interrupted session is offered back to you instead of becoming a file nothing can open.
The problem
Fifty minutes into a recorded lesson the app disappears from the Dock. The file is on the disk and no player will touch it, because the recorder was holding the whole take until you pressed stop — and pressing stop is the one thing that never happened.
What happens instead
ReScreen writes the take down as it happens and keeps its own account of what has been written. Open the app after an interruption and the project is waiting in the library, marked as recoverable; choosing it rebuilds the recording up to the last moment that reached the disk, without deleting or overwriting anything to do it.
In detail
What crash recovery actually does
Offered back, not hunted for
An interrupted project appears in the library marked for recovery. You do not go rooting through temporary folders or run a repair tool over a half-written file.
Originals are always kept
Recovery rebuilds what can be read and keeps every original file, including any part it could not, with a warning that says so. Nothing is deleted on your behalf.
It watches the disk and the inputs
Free space is checked before the first frame and again while you record, and a camera or microphone that stops sending is reported rather than quietly missing from the take.
Specifications
The short version
- Written
- Continuously, while you record
- After an interruption
- Offered in the library as a recoverable project
- Recovered take
- Everything up to the last moment saved
- Original files
- Kept, never overwritten
- Disk space
- Checked before and during the recording
- Inputs
- A camera or microphone that goes silent is reported
Record long screen sessions without losing them
A long recording is a bet that nothing goes wrong for an hour or two, and most recorders make that bet with a single file that only becomes valid when you press stop. ReScreen writes the take down as you record, so a crash, a flat battery or a full disk leaves a project you can open and recover rather than a file nothing will play. That is what people mean when they search for a crash-safe screen recorder, or ask how to record a screen without it crashing.
Record a long webinar, lesson or workshop on a Mac
Long takes have three risks: the app, the disk and the power. The first is handled by continuous saving. The second is handled by checking free space before you start and again while recording. The third is handled the same way as the first: whatever reached the disk is recoverable. Crash-safe screen recording on a Mac explains each case, and screen recording for online courses covers recording long lessons.
What recovery does and does not do
Recovery rebuilds the recording up to the last moment that reached the disk and keeps every original file, including any part it could not read, with a warning that says so. It does not guess at the frames that never existed. Nothing is deleted. If a recording ends unexpectedly, open the app and the project is waiting in the library.
How to check any recorder for this
Ask three questions of any screen recorder you rely on for long sessions. Is the file playable while you are still recording, or only after you press stop? Does it check free disk space before it starts and warn you while it runs? And if the app quits, is there a recovery path that keeps the original files rather than asking you to repair them by hand? A recorder that cannot answer all three is a recorder to keep to short clips.
FAQ
Questions about crash recovery
Can I recover a screen recording after my Mac crashes?
With ReScreen, yes, up to the moment the recording stopped. The take is written down while it is being made, so the next time you open the app the project is in the library ready to recover, rather than being a file you have to repair.
Why do screen recordings get corrupted when an app quits unexpectedly?
Most recorders write one large movie that only becomes playable when it is closed properly at the end. If the app never reaches that step, the video is on the disk but there is no index telling a player where anything is, so nothing will open it.
What happens if the disk fills up during a long recording?
Free space is checked before the recording starts and again while it runs. If it gets critically low the recording stops with a message explaining why, and everything captured up to that point is kept and openable.
How do I record a long screen session without it crashing?
You cannot promise that nothing will fail, so ReScreen makes failure cheap: the take is saved as you record, free disk space is checked before and during the session, and an interrupted project is offered back for recovery the next time you open the app.
Keep reading
The parts that work with it
Screen recording
A display, a single window, one application, or a region you draw — at the pixel density the screen actually has.
Read morePrivate by design
Recording, editing and export all happen locally. There is no upload step, because there is nowhere to upload to.
Read moreTimeline editor
Splitting, trimming, ripple deletes and per-section speed, without exporting into another application first.
Read moreFrom the blog
Guides that use crash recovery
Comparisons
ReScreen vs Cap: A Paid Mac Recorder Against an Open-Source One
Cap is open source, cross-platform and free for personal use. Here is exactly where that is the right answer, and the three places ReScreen still differs.
5 min read
Comparisons
ReScreen vs ScreenFlow: How Much Video Editor Do You Actually Need?
ScreenFlow is a video editing suite that records. ReScreen is a recorder that edits. The right answer depends on what you do after you press stop.
5 min read
Product Features
Crash-Safe Screen Recording on Mac: Never Lose a Long Take Again
A recorder that writes one big file loses everything when something goes wrong. Here is how saving the take continuously, and offering to recover it, protects a long recording.
6 min readRecord the next one properly
Install it, hit ⌥⌘R, and watch a take that would normally cost you an evening in a timeline come out finished.
macOS 13 Ventura or later · Apple Silicon and Intel