Recording great 5-second clips
Short, cropped, silent loops that show exactly one action, and stay under 2 MB.
8 minBeginner
A good step clip is a loop someone understands without sound in one viewing. It shows one action, from just before it to just after.
The rules
| Rule | Why |
|---|---|
| 3–10 seconds | Short loops get watched; long ones get skipped. |
| One action | The step text says one thing; the clip shows the same thing. |
| Crop to the action | The card is small. Show the panel, not the whole screen. |
| 16:10 | The card's clip area is 16:10; other shapes are letterboxed. |
| No sound needed | Clips start muted. Narration is optional. |
| Under 2 MB | Clips start fast on phones; the next step's clip preloads. |
Recording
- macOS: Shift-Cmd-5, choose Record selected portion.
- Windows: Win-Shift-R (Snipping Tool), drag the area.
- Phones: the built-in screen recorder, then crop.
Use your app's real data, at the zoom your users see. Move the pointer slowly and pause briefly on the target before you click.
Editing
In Clips › Upload clip, drag the start and end to just before and after the action. Free compresses the clip in your browser; a typical 5-second clip ends up around 300 KB.
When to skip the clip
Not every step needs one. Steps that only explain something work fine with text and Next. Clips earn their place on steps with a gesture, a hidden menu or a multi-click flow.