How to Mirror Your Mac Display (or Stop Mirroring)

Mirroring shows the same image on both screens — what you want for a projector or a conference-room TV. Extending gives each screen its own desktop — what you want at a desk. macOS flips between the two in one setting, and there's a keyboard shortcut and a Control Center route when you're standing in front of an audience.

Turn mirroring on

1. Connect the display and open System Settings → Displays.
2. Click the external display's icon at the top of the pane.
3. Set Use as to Mirror for Built-in Display (the wording names whichever display it will copy).

Both screens now show the same desktop. To go back, set Use as to Extended display — same menu, same three clicks. The pane looks the same on macOS 13 Ventura, 14 Sonoma, and 15 Sequoia.

The fast routes

• Keyboard: Cmd + F1 toggles mirroring on Macs with hardware function keys. On a MacBook keyboard where F1 doubles as brightness, add fn: fn + Cmd + F1. Worth memorizing if you present regularly — it works even when the projector is already washing out your screen and you can't see System Settings.
• Control Center: click Screen Mirroring, and for an AirPlay display (Apple TV, AirPlay-capable TVs) pick the device — then use the same menu to choose mirroring or extending, and to disconnect.

Mirroring without a cable: AirPlay

For an Apple TV or an AirPlay-capable smart TV, skip the HDMI entirely: click Screen Mirroring in Control Center, pick the device, and type the code the TV displays the first time. Once connected, the same Screen Mirroring menu lets you switch between mirroring your display and using the TV as a separate extended display, and it's where you disconnect. Expect a whisker of latency compared to a cable — irrelevant for slides and video, noticeable if you try to do precise pointer work on the TV.

The resolution gotcha

Mirroring forces both displays to show one image, so macOS picks a resolution both can handle — which means the picture is only truly native on one of them. A 16:10 MacBook mirrored to a 16:9 projector will letterbox or soften somewhere. Two things help:

1. In Displays settings while mirrored, use the Optimize for pop-up to pick which display gets the native-quality image. Choose the projector — your audience's screen matters more than yours.
2. Expect your Mac's own screen to look slightly off while mirrored. It's normal, and it ends when mirroring does.

Mirror or extend? Presenters should consider extending

Mirroring is the simple, nothing-to-hide option — great for demos, teaching, and "can everyone see my screen." But for slide decks, extending is often better: the projector becomes a second display showing the slides, while Keynote or PowerPoint puts presenter notes and the next slide on your screen. If you mirror instead, the audience sees your notes too. The presenter-view feature of your slide app only works with extended displays.

When mirroring misbehaves

• No image on the external screen: reseat the cable, then check the display icon appears in Displays settings at all — no icon means a connection problem, not a mirroring problem.
• Wrong screen is "optimized": fix it with the Optimize for pop-up rather than fighting resolutions manually.
• Overscan on a TV (edges cut off): look for a "Just Scan" / "1:1" picture mode on the TV itself — most TVs default to zooming the image slightly.
• Mirroring "sticks" after you meant to stop: macOS remembers the last mode per display, so if a projector always comes up mirrored, connect it, switch Use as to Extended once, and that becomes the remembered default for that display.