Area Capture stops unexpectedly after a random duration and saves a truncated recording

[jsato0807]

Version

v2026.3

macOS Version

15.5(Sequoia)

What happened?

Description

When using Area Capture, the recording stops automatically after a seemingly random duration, even though I do not manually stop it.

The selected-area dotted border disappears, BetterCapture remains responsive, and the partial recording is saved successfully as a MOV file.

This occurs with both the iOS Simulator and a browser playing a YouTube video, so it does not appear to be specific to the Simulator or the captured application.

Environment

• BetterCapture version: v2026.3 (6124e54)
• macOS: Sequoia 15.5
• Mac: Apple Silicon MacBook Pro
• Capture mode: Select Area
• System audio: Enabled
• Microphone: Disabled
• Container: MOV

Steps to reproduce

1. Open BetterCapture.
2. Select Select Area.
3. Select an area of the screen.
4. Enable Capture System Audio.
5. Start recording.
6. Leave a YouTube video playing, or operate the iOS Simulator.
7. Wait without manually stopping the recording.

Actual behavior

The recording stops by itself after a variable duration.

Observed recording durations include:

• 1 minute 23 seconds
• 1 minute 34 seconds
• 3 minutes 9 seconds

When this happens:

• The dotted Area Capture border disappears.
• BetterCapture does not freeze or crash.
• A notification is shown.
• The recording is saved successfully, but only up to the unexpected stopping point.

Expected behavior

The recording should continue until I manually stop it.

Settings tested

The issue reproduced with:

• 60 fps / H.265
• 30 fps / H.264

Changing the frame rate and codec did not resolve the issue.

The issue also reproduced when recording a browser playing YouTube, so it is not specific to the iOS Simulator.

Storage information

The recording files are relatively small, and recordings larger than the failed recordings have previously been saved successfully.

The stopping point also varies, so this does not appear to be a fixed MOV file-size limit.

The internal disk had approximately 3.6 GB available during testing. This is low, but the recorded MOV files were only around tens of megabytes, and AssetWriter completed saving them.

Logs

The logs indicate that the capture stream stopped unexpectedly and BetterCapture then attempted to save the partial recording.

Relevant messages include:

Capture stopped with error
Stream stopped unexpectedly, attempting to save recording
Stream stopped with error

### What did you expect to happen?

The recording should continue until I manually stop it. It should never stop automatically during recording.

### Steps to Reproduce

1. Launch BetterCapture.
2. Select "Select Area".
3. Select any area of the screen.
4. Enable "Capture System Audio".
5. Start recording.
6. Play a YouTube video in Chrome (the issue also occurs with the iOS Simulator).
7. Wait without manually stopping the recording.
8. After approximately 1–3 minutes, the recording stops automatically.

### Video Codec

H.264

### Audio Codec

AAC

### Container Format

MOV

### Alpha Channel

Disabled

### HDR

Disabled

### Content Filters

- [X] Show Cursor
- [ ] Show Wallpaper
- [ ] Show Menu Bar
- [ ] Show Dock
- [ ] Show Window Shadows
- [ ] Show BetterCapture

### Microphone

Disabled

### I confirm that:

- [X] I have searched existing Discussions and Issues and this is not a duplicate.

[jsattler]

Thanks a lot for reporting. I will take a look in the coming days and transfer this discussion into an issue.

[jsattler]

@jsato0807 Unfortunately, I'm not able to reproduce it on macOS 26.6 and I don't have access to macOS 15.x. Do you have any anti-virus software running on your machine (e.g., microsoft defender, crowdstrike etc.) which might kill the process?

[jsato0807]

No, I don't have any antivirus or endpoint security software installed (such as Microsoft Defender or CrowdStrike).

I'm using a clean personal MacBook Pro with macOS Sequoia 15.5.

The issue reproduces consistently enough on my machine with both:

• Area Capture + Chrome (YouTube)
• Area Capture + iOS Simulator

It also reproduces with both:

• H.264 / 30 fps
• H.265 / 60 fps

The recording stops unexpectedly after a random duration, BetterCapture remains running, and the partial recording is saved successfully.

Since you mentioned you only tested on macOS 26.6, I wonder if this could be specific to macOS 15.x or an interaction with ScreenCaptureKit on Sequoia 15.5.

[jsato0807]

Would it be helpful if I tested a debug build or collected additional logs for you?

[jsattler]

In case you have xcode installed and could run the application through xcode it would help. Let me know if that works for you.

[jsato0807]

I was able to build and run the Debug configuration from the Xcode project using xcodebuild. The Xcode GUI is currently unusable on my Mac, so I launched the signed Debug app directly rather than running it with the Run button in Xcode.

I reproduced the following behavior in both the Debug build and the installed release build:

Browser window / YouTube
Capture Area: video and audio work
Pick Content: video and audio work
iOS Simulator
Capture Area: video and audio work
Pick Content: the selected Simulator window is captured correctly, but the recording is silent

Previously, Pick Content captured the Simulator audio, but it incorrectly recorded the entire Mac screen instead of only the selected content. That full-screen capture issue no longer occurs, but Pick Content is now silent for the Simulator.

I can run further tests from the Debug build and collect logs. Please let me know which logs or reproduction steps would be most useful.

[jsato0807]

I'm sorry I made a mistake that I sent wrong a message about another case of the problem which I sent about 3 weeks ago. Please foget about the previous message.

[jsato0807]

I was able to run the debug build successfully.
I tested Area Capture with system audio for approximately 11 minutes, but the issue did not reproduce this time—the recording continued and the audio remained present throughout.
Since the issue appears intermittent, I can collect and attach the debug log if it happens again.