How to record system audio on a Mac
“Internal audio”, “system audio”, “computer audio” — the sound your Mac is playing. Apple’s own apps will not record it, and the reason is a privacy boundary rather than an oversight.
- macOS does not let you record system audio with its built-in tools. QuickTime Player’s audio recorder offers one input control — a microphone — and macOS screen recording offers only a microphone too.
- There are two working routes: install a virtual audio device (BlackHole is free, Loopback is paid) and reroute your output through it, or use an app that holds macOS’s System Audio Recording permission and reads the output stream directly.
- The permission exists in macOS by design. Apple’s own documentation describes allowing an app “both your screen and audio, or just your audio”.
- The virtual-device route mixes everything into one track, including your own microphone if you add it. An app that taps the output can keep the two apart.
- Nothing here needs Screen Recording permission if you only want audio.
If you have been trying to record the sound coming out of your Mac and getting silence, you have not misconfigured anything. macOS separates “audio going into a microphone” from “audio coming out of the speakers”, and Apple does not expose the second one in any of its own recording apps.
Why Apple’s tools refuse
The distinction is a privacy boundary. Your microphone captures you and the room you are in. Your Mac’s output can contain a phone call, a video conference, a voice message, a paid film — audio that belongs to someone else. So Apple gated it, and then declined to build a consumer-facing switch for it.
You can confirm this in Apple’s own documentation, which is more useful than any tutorial:
- QuickTime Player’s New Audio Recording window offers exactly one input control: “Microphone: Choose a microphone (if you have more than one available).”
- The macOS screen-recording help says only: “Below Microphone, select the microphone you want to use so that a checkmark appears next to it.”
- Voice Memos states its inputs as “the built-in microphone, a supported headset, or an external mic.”
Three surfaces, no system audio in any of them.
The capability does exist. Apple’s privacy documentation describes the control that governs it — “You can decide which apps and websites are allowed to record your screen and audio” — and notes that an app can be allowed “both your screen and audio, or just your audio.” It is available to third-party apps that ask. Apple just never asks on your behalf.
Route 1 — a virtual audio device
The traditional answer. You install a driver that presents itself as a set of speakers, send your Mac’s output into it, and then record from it as though it were a microphone.
BlackHole is free and open source. Loopback by Rogue Amoeba is paid and does the plumbing with a graphical patchbay instead of Audio MIDI Setup. Both end at the same place.
The setup, in outline:
- Install the driver.
- Open Audio MIDI Setup and create a Multi-Output Device containing both your real output (headphones or speakers) and the virtual device. Without this you record the audio but hear nothing.
- Set your Mac’s sound output to that Multi-Output Device.
- In your recorder, choose the virtual device as the input.
- Record. Then set your output back, or wonder later why Spotify is silent.
What this costs you, stated honestly:
- A Multi-Output Device does not respond to the volume keys, so you lose keyboard volume control while it is selected.
- Its member devices can drift out of sync on long recordings.
- Adding your own microphone means building an Aggregate Device on top, and everything lands in one mixed track.
- Every recording starts with remembering to switch, and ends with remembering to switch back.
For occasional captures — an audio file from a video, a stream you want to keep — this is fine and free. For every meeting, every day, the ritual is the problem.
Route 2 — an app with the system-audio permission
Instead of rerouting anything, an app can request the macOS permission and read the output stream where it already is. Your sound settings never change. Your headphones keep working. There is nothing to undo.
This is how Narada records meetings. Two consequences follow from the design:
Separate tracks. The microphone and the system output are opened independently, so your voice and everyone else’s stay in different files. That matters more than it sounds: a transcript built from two tracks can attribute your lines to you with certainty, and can separate the other side into distinct voices. A single mixed track cannot — it is one waveform with several people in it.
No screen permission. It records audio, not pixels. macOS asks for Microphone and System Audio Recording, and that is all.
Which route for which job
| What you’re doing | Route | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Grabbing audio from a video or stream once | BlackHole + QuickTime | Free, and the mixing does not matter |
| Recording music or multi-source audio to edit | Loopback | Patchbay control is worth paying for |
| Recording every meeting, with a transcript | An app with the audio permission | No ritual, and the tracks stay separate |
| Recording only your own voice | Voice Memos | Microphone-only is the point here |
| Recording a shared Zoom call as the host | Zoom's own recording | Includes video, saves to your Mac |
One thing that has nothing to do with software
If the audio you are capturing contains another person, tell them. Recording rules vary by country and by state, and some places require every participant’s consent rather than just yours. That is a question about your situation, not about your Mac — but the practical version takes four seconds at the start of a call.
Sources
- Apple Support, Record audio in QuickTime Player on Mac — the single microphone input control — https://support.apple.com/guide/quicktime-player/record-audio-qtp3a7cbdc0d/mac
- Apple Support, Take a screenshot or screen recording on Mac — microphone-only audio option — https://support.apple.com/guide/mac-help/take-a-screenshot-or-screen-recording-mh26782/mac
- Apple Support, Record audio in Voice Memos on Mac — supported input devices — https://support.apple.com/guide/voice-memos/record-audio-vmm4ea2b3d0e/mac
- Apple Support, Control access to screen and system audio recording on Mac — “both your screen and audio, or just your audio” — https://support.apple.com/guide/mac-help/control-access-to-screen-and-system-audio-recording-mchld6aa7d23/mac
Checked 4 August 2026.
Questions people ask about this
Can QuickTime record internal audio on a Mac?
Not on its own. Apple’s documentation for QuickTime’s audio recorder lists a single input control — “Microphone: Choose a microphone (if you have more than one available)" — with no system-audio option. It can record from a virtual audio device once you install one, because macOS then presents that device as a microphone.
Is BlackHole safe to install?
BlackHole is an open-source audio driver and is widely used. It installs a kernel-level audio device, which is a bigger commitment than an ordinary app, and you have to remember to switch your output back afterwards. That is the trade, not a hidden risk.
Why is my screen recording silent?
Because ⌘⇧5 records the microphone, not the audio your Mac is playing. Apple’s help text for it only offers “Below Microphone, select the microphone you want to use”. If you were recording a video call, the other side was never captured.
Do I need Screen Recording permission to record system audio?
Only if the tool you use is a screen recorder. macOS treats screen and audio as separable in the same privacy control, so an audio-only app asks for System Audio Recording and not for your screen.
Can I record system audio and my microphone as separate tracks?
Not with a single virtual output device — that gives you one mixed stream. To keep them separate you need software that opens the microphone and the system output independently, which is what Narada does.
Try it on your next call
Narada records your Mac's audio and your microphone, transcribes on-device, and hands you the decisions and follow-ups. Free to use, no account, no bot in the meeting.