How to Split Screen on a Mac and Watch Two (or More) Videos at Once: Split View, Floating Windows, and Resizable Video Tiles

To split screen on a Mac, hold the pointer over a window's green button and choose Full Screen > Left of Screen or Right of Screen, then click a second window to fill the other half. That gives you two windows, each with its own audio. To watch two to eight videos in one window with resizable tiles, use a tiled player such as Plush Media Player.

The short answer

Searching "how to split screen on mac" turns up the same advice again and again: use Split View. It works, and it is the right answer for a document next to a browser. For video it has a ceiling. Split View holds two windows, they are two separate apps or windows with two separate audio streams, and you do the arranging by hand every time.

You have four realistic ways to put video side by side on a Mac:

• Split View: two windows, full screen, built in and free.
• Window tiling: drag to the edges, use the green button or the Window menu, or press Fn-Control shortcuts. Halves and quarters, built in and free.
• Stage Manager or loose windows: overlap and resize two or three browser windows yourself.
• A tiled player: Plush Media Player, free on the Mac App Store (macOS 14 or later) for up to three tiles, with a one-time $2.99 Plush Pro upgrade for up to eight. One window, drag the dividers to size each one.

We built Plush because we kept arranging windows for exactly this. If the idea is new, here is what multi-screen video means on a Mac. The built-in methods come first, with Apple's own instructions, then the Plush routine. For what Apple TV, iPad, iPhone and Vision Pro offer, see multi-screen on Apple, device by device.

How to use Split View on a Mac

Apple's steps are short. In its guide to using apps in Split View, Apple says to "hold the pointer over the green button in the top-left corner of the window, then choose Full Screen > Left of Screen or Right of Screen. On the other side of the screen, click the second app you want to work with." The pair lives in its own desktop space.

1. Open your two windows. A browser window with one video and QuickTime Player with a local file works. So do two browser windows.
2. Hover over the green button in the top-left corner of the first window.
3. Choose Full Screen > Left of Screen (or Right of Screen).
4. Click the second window in the strip that appears on the other side.
5. Resize if you need to. Per Apple, drag the separator bar in the middle left or right to make one side bigger, and double-click it to return to equal sizes.

To leave, hover over the green button again and choose Move Window to Desktop or Make Window Full Screen.

Where Split View falls short for video

• Two windows, no more. Apple describes Split View as working "in two apps side by side." A third video means another space and a lot of swiping.
• Each window has its own audio. Both videos talk at once. You mute one tab or window by hand, and when you switch which one you want to hear, you do it again.
• You arrange it every time. Quit the apps, restart, or close the space and the pairing is gone.
• Chrome eats the picture. Each window keeps its own title bar, toolbar or tab strip, and in full screen the menu bar and Dock slide in and out. On a MacBook screen, two 16:9 videos side by side are letterboxed into two tall halves, with unused space above and below.
• Not every app joins. Apple says "many apps" support Split View, not all of them.

Window tiling on macOS Sequoia and later

If Split View feels heavy, tiling is the lighter cousin. Starting with macOS Sequoia, a Mac can snap windows into place without leaving the desktop. Apple's Tile windows on Mac guide lists the methods:

• Drag to an edge. Drag a window to the left or right edge, or to a corner, and release when the highlighted area appears. Dragging to the menu bar fills the desktop. Holding Option while dragging makes it snap faster.
• The green button. Hover over it and choose a layout under Move & Resize, or under Fill & Arrange to tile several windows at once.
• The menu bar. Choose Window > Move & Resize, then Halves, Quarters or Arrange.
• Keyboard shortcuts. Apple's tiling icons and shortcuts page lists them. FnControlLeft Arrow and FnControlRight Arrow send the active window to the left or right half. FnControlF fills the desktop, FnControlC centers, and FnControlR returns to the previous size.

The multi-window shortcuts add Shift: FnControlShiftLeft Arrow puts the active window on the left half and a second window on the right. There is also a Quarters arrangement for four windows.

Tiling beats Split View for video in two ways. You keep the menu bar and Dock, and you can go to four windows. It shares the other limits, though. Four windows are four audio streams, each with its own browser chrome, and macOS does not remember the arrangement as a set when you quit and come back. On a MacBook, the Fn key is usually in the bottom-left corner, so the Fn-Control shortcuts are three-key chords. If they do nothing, check that window tiling is turned on in the Desktop & Dock settings (Apple describes the on/off switch in the same guide).

Stage Manager and two browser windows

Apple's Stage Manager guide says you can "reposition, resize, and overlap windows" and group apps in the center of the screen. That is the loosest option. It is good for juggling, but nothing is tiled for you. For two videos, the simplest setup is two browser windows dragged to the left and right halves. It costs nothing, and you will mute one by hand.

What about Picture in Picture?

Safari and QuickTime offer Picture in Picture, which floats a video above everything else. It is handy for one video you want to keep in a corner, and it is generally one floating video at a time. We cover the trade-offs in Plush vs Safari Picture in Picture, so this post stays on split screen. If you are wondering whether QuickTime, VLC or IINA can play two videos at once, we answer that in our guide to playing multiple videos in QuickTime and VLC.

Split View vs window tiling vs PiP vs Plush

How to split screen for video with Plush

Plush is a Mac app that does one thing: it puts several players in one window. We built it for the situation this post is about, two or more things you want to watch and hear at the same time without managing windows. Here is what it does that Split View and tiling cannot.

• One window, up to 3 tiles free, up to 8 with Plush Pro. The Tiles stepper in the sidebar (toggle it with ⌘\) sets the count. No third space, no second app.
• Every tile takes web, local files, or Apple Music. A web video next to a movie file next to a playlist, in one grid.
• Drag the dividers to resize any tile. Not just left and right halves.
• Grid, Hero or Split in one click (Hero is Plush Pro). Equal tiles, one featured tile with the others around it, or one big tile on the left with the rest in a grid beside it.
• Drag a tile onto another to swap them. The two trade places and keep playing.
• Focus audio. Only the tile you point at plays sound.
• Pin on Top (⇧⌘P) keeps the whole window above your other apps.
• Saved sessions (Plush Pro) bring the tiles back in the same layout.

Set it up in seven steps

1. Open Plush and pick what goes in each tile. It starts with empty tiles, and each one offers Local Files, Website, or Apple Music (the first button reads Video and the second Web in some screenshots). Choose Local Files to play a file from your Mac, Website to load a site, or Apple Music to search it. Apple Music tiles need an Apple Music subscription and permission to access your library.
2. Set the number of tiles. Use the Tiles stepper in the sidebar to go anywhere from 1 to 3, or up to 8 with Plush Pro. Two gives you the classic side-by-side split.
3. Drag the dividers. Grab the seam between two tiles and drag it. Make the lecture big and the slides small, or the reverse. Double-click a seam to reset the layout to uniform sizes, and press ⌘Z to undo a drag.
4. Choose Grid, Split or Hero. Open the sidebar (⌘\) and pick one under Layout. Grid gives equal tiles. Split, also free, puts one big tile on the left and the rest in a grid beside it. Hero (Plush Pro) gives one featured tile about 65% of the window and the others beside it.
5. Pick a sound mode. Under Sound, Focus plays audio only from the tile you hover over, or the one you double-click to lock. Adaptive (Pro) keeps the focused tile at full volume and the rest at an ambient level. Chaos (Pro) plays everything. M mutes all.
6. Pin the window if you are working next to it. Press ⇧⌘P and Plush stays above your other apps while you type in a document or editor.
7. Save the layout (Plush Pro). Sidebar > Sessions > Save Current Session stores the tile count, sources, sizes and volumes so tomorrow is one click.

Resize any tile by dragging the divider

This is the part Split View gets half right. It lets you drag one separator between two windows. Plush lets you drag the dividers between all of your tiles, in Grid, Split or Hero, with a floor so no tile shrinks below 120 points. A reference video can take two thirds of the window while a second one stays small in the corner for glances. Drags and resets both register for undo.

Grid, Hero or Split in one click

Grid and Split are free; Hero is part of Plush Pro. A grid is the right answer when the videos are equals, such as two camera angles or four match streams. Hero is the right answer when one matters more: a lecture with a few reference clips, or a show you are really watching with a playlist and a score tracker beside it. Split sits between the two: one full-height tile on the left and a neat grid on the right, the shape that fits an ultrawide monitor (see how to split an ultrawide monitor on a Mac). Switch with the Layout control, and every tile keeps playing.

One video talking, not two

Audio is the biggest practical gap. With two browser windows you hear both, then spend the video hunting for the mute button. In Plush's Focus mode, only the tile your pointer is on is audible. Point at the other tile and the sound follows. Double-click a tile to lock the sound on it while you do something else. If you want both, Chaos (Plush Pro) plays all tiles at their own volume levels, and each video or web tile has its own volume control.

What about web tiles?

Web tiles load sites from a list of built-in streaming sites, and you can add a site yourself: when a site is not supported, the tile says so and offers an Add Site button. If a service needs a login, you sign in on the service's own page. Plush does not promise that any particular subscription service will play, so try the one you care about before relying on it.

What Plush does not do

• It is Mac only. macOS 14 or later, no iPhone or iPad version.
• It is not an editor. It plays and arranges. It does not export a split-screen movie.
• It does not do Picture in Picture. If you want one video floating over everything, the built-in Safari or QuickTime option is the tool for that.
• Not every file format opens. mp4, mov, m4v and avi are the safe ones. mkv and webm may fail depending on what AVFoundation can decode.
• Apple Music tiles need a subscription.

For the full tile and layout details, see the multi-video player page. For two local clips synced to each other, read how to compare two videos side by side on a Mac. If both videos live on YouTube, this walkthrough covers that case.

Frequently asked questions

Why can't I split screen on my Mac?

The usual causes are an app that does not support Split View, a window that cannot be resized, or tiling turned off in System Settings. Apple notes that "many apps" support Split View, not all. Update macOS, then check Desktop & Dock settings for the window tiling options. If you are on an older macOS than Sequoia, edge-snapping tiling is not available, though Split View is.

How do I split screen on a MacBook with keyboard shortcuts?

On macOS Sequoia or later, press Fn-Control-Left Arrow or Fn-Control-Right Arrow to snap the active window to the left or right half. Add Shift (Fn-Control-Shift-Left Arrow) to also move a second window to the other half. Fn-Control-R returns the window to its previous size. These are on Apple's window tiling shortcuts page.

Can I watch two YouTube videos at once on a Mac?

Yes. Open two browser windows and put them in Split View or tile them to the left and right halves. You will hear both, so mute one tab. For a layout where only the tile you point at plays sound, load both into Plush tiles and use Focus audio.

Can Split View hold more than two windows?

No. Apple describes Split View as two apps side by side. For more windows on one screen, use window tiling, which offers quarters for four windows, or a tiled player such as Plush, which holds up to three tiles in a single window for free and up to eight with Plush Pro.

How do I watch two videos at once on a Mac with one sound?

The built-in options give each window its own audio, so you mute one by hand. In Plush, Focus mode plays sound only from the tile you hover over or lock, Adaptive (Plush Pro) lowers the other tiles to an ambient level, and Chaos (Plush Pro) plays every tile.

Is Picture in Picture the same as split screen on a Mac?

No. Picture in Picture floats one video over your other windows, while split screen puts windows side by side. Safari and QuickTime offer PiP; our comparison is at Plush vs Safari Picture in Picture.

Plush Media Player is free on the Mac App Store, and Plush Pro is a one-time $2.99 with no subscription, no account and no timers. Open it, drop two videos in two tiles, drag the divider, and you have a split screen that stays how you left it.