How to turn a Keynote presentation into a video

Keynote has the best built-in video export of the big presentation apps. It records your voice over the slideshow, keeps your builds and transitions, and writes out a proper movie file in a couple of clicks. If you're on a Mac and the deck is already in Keynote, start there.

This guide covers that native route in detail, the settings that trip people up, and the alternative for when you want a video that explains your deck instead of replaying it.

Option 1: Record narration and export a movie from Keynote

Record the slideshow

Open the presentation and choose Play > Record Slideshow.
Click the red record button at the bottom of the window. Keynote counts down, then starts recording.
Talk through the deck, advancing slides and builds as you normally would. Keynote saves your voice and the timing of every click.
Press Esc when you're done.

Keynote treats the recording as one run, so a practice pass first saves re-takes. Play > Clear Recording wipes it if you want to start fresh.

You can play it back with Play > Play Recorded Slideshow before exporting. Do this. It's much quicker to catch a long pause now than after a 4K export.

Export it

Go to File > Export To > Movie. The settings:

Playback: choose Slideshow Recording to use your narration and timings. The other choice, Self-Playing, advances every slide and build after a fixed number of seconds, with no voice.
Resolution: 720p, 1080p, 4K, or a custom size. 1080p suits almost anything and exports faster than 4K.
Compression: H.264 is the safe pick for sharing and uploading. HEVC gives smaller files. Apple ProRes is for when you'll edit the video further.

Then pick where to save it. Keynote writes a .mov file, which YouTube, Vimeo and most course platforms accept as is.

What Keynote's export is good and bad at

Good:

Free on any Mac, iPad or iPhone.
Magic Move, builds and transitions come through exactly as you designed them.
It's your voice and your timing.

Bad:

You have to narrate, and you need to deliver it cleanly in one go or redo it.
It's still your slides. A deck written to back up a live talk (short titles, a few words per slide) often makes a thin video on its own.
Mac and Apple devices only. Collaborators on Windows can open the movie but can't re-export the deck.

Option 2: Screen record the presentation

If you need to cut away to another app mid-talk, Keynote's recording can't follow you. Use Cmd+Shift+5 or QuickTime Player's File > New Screen Recording, choose your microphone in Options, and present. It's one continuous take, so expect to trim the start and end in iMovie or QuickTime afterwards.

Script habits that make slide videos watchable

Whichever export route you use, the script decides most of the result:

Write the narration before you record. Keynote's presenter notes are a good place for it.
Work on roughly 150 words per minute of speech. If a five-minute video's script runs to 1,200 words, cut it.
One idea per slide. If a slide takes a minute of talking, split it.
Say what the slide doesn't. Reading out on-screen text word for word makes viewers read ahead and stop listening.

Option 3: Have a narrated explainer made from the Keynote file

Sometimes the deck is a means to an end. You don't need anyone to watch your slides. You need them to understand what's in them: a new hire catching up on a strategy deck, students going over a lecture, a client who missed the pitch.

For that, Rekka can take the .key file directly. It reads the slides, writes a narrated explanation, and draws it as a hand-drawn video in a whiteboard, chalkboard or crayon style.

Open the chat at rekkaai.com/app.
Attach the Keynote file (.key). Rekka converts it to PDF on its side, then reads it page by page.
Send it. Add direction if you like: "focus on the second half", "explain it for a first-year student", or a language to narrate in. With no message, the video covers the whole presentation.
The finished mp4 appears in the chat, ready to download or share with a public link.

You can ask questions about the deck in the chat before making a video, which costs no credits.

More detail on the Keynote to video page.

What this route uses from your deck

Rekka reads what's on the slides: text, diagrams, tables, charts and equations. The script comes from those slides, so it uses your terms.

Your presenter notes aren't read. If the slides are sparse and the substance is in the notes, paste those points into the chat message with the file.

Builds, Magic Move and transitions don't carry over, because Rekka doesn't replay the deck. It writes a fresh explanation and draws it scene by scene. If you need your exact slides and animations in the video, Option 1 is the right tool.

Narration is an AI voice.

Length and credits

Up to 30 slides per message. One credit makes one video of about 100 seconds, and new accounts start with one free credit. On the free plan the video is one ~100-second chapter summarising the deck. Paid plans can make longer, multi-chapter videos: Rekka shows the length and credit cost and asks you to confirm before it starts.

The video can be landscape, square or portrait.

Which should you use?

Use Keynote's own export when you're presenting and the video replaces a live session. It's free, keeps your design, and Apple has done the hard part well.

Screen record when you have to leave Keynote mid-talk.

Use a generator when the goal is understanding over presentation, or when you don't want to narrate it yourself.

Common questions

Can Keynote export a video with audio?

Yes. Record the slideshow with Play > Record Slideshow, then export with File > Export To > Movie and set Playback to Slideshow Recording. Audio you've added to slides also plays in the export.

Why is my Keynote video silent?

Usually the Playback setting was left on Self-Playing, which ignores recorded narration. Re-export and choose Slideshow Recording.

Can I export Keynote to MP4?

Keynote saves a .mov file with H.264 or HEVC video. Most sites accept it as is. If something insists on .mp4, convert it with a free tool like HandBrake.

Can I convert Keynote to video on Windows?

Not with Keynote itself, which only runs on Apple devices. You can export the deck as PowerPoint from Keynote (File > Export To > PowerPoint) and make the video in PowerPoint on Windows, or attach the .key file to Rekka, which handles the conversion on its side.