How to record system audio on a Mac (no virtual driver)

Updated 2026-09-02 · v0.2.10

macOS does not let software record the sound your Mac is playing — not obviously, anyway. That is why people spent years installing virtual audio drivers. Since macOS 13 you no longer need one. Here is how to record your screen with system audio, and what to check when the recording comes back silent.

Why ⌘⇧5 cannot record system audio

Apple's built-in screen recorder (⌘⇧5) offers exactly one audio option: a microphone. It cannot capture what your Mac is playing — music, a video in Safari, notification sounds, the other people on a call. Record a meeting with it and you get your own voice and total silence from everyone else.

This is a privacy decision, not a bug: playing audio can contain another app's content, so it is not part of what "screen recording" grants by default.

The old way: a virtual audio driver

The traditional workaround is to install a virtual audio driver — Soundflower back in the day, usually BlackHole or Loopback now — then open Audio MIDI Setup, build a Multi-Output Device so sound goes to both your speakers and the virtual driver, and point the recorder at that.

It works, and it costs you:

• Installing a kernel extension or audio driver, usually with a restart and relaxed security settings.
• Remembering to switch your output back afterwards, or spending the next morning wondering why your Mac has no sound.
• A Multi-Output Device that ignores your keyboard volume keys.
• A macOS update that can break the driver.

The way that works now

Since macOS 13, Apple's ScreenCaptureKit lets a screen recorder take the system audio stream directly, already synchronised to the same clock as the video frames. No driver, no virtual device, no switching outputs. Screen Studio uses exactly this path.

1. Open the Screen Studio panel in the menu bar and switch to the Recording tab.
2. Pick an audio source. There are three: system audio only, microphone only, or both. Narrating a tutorial wants both; capturing a bug that makes a sound needs only system audio.
3. If you are using a microphone, pick the right device. The list shows every microphone attached; with an external webcam or Bluetooth headphones in the mix, the default is usually not the one you want.
4. Watch the level meter before you hit record. Say a sentence, or play a few seconds of sound. If the meter moves, audio is arriving. This is the highest-value three seconds in the whole workflow — it saves re-recording a ten-minute take.
5. Press ⌥⌘R to record, or ⌥⌘1 to start on the screen you are already using. Press again to stop; the editor opens by itself.
6. Check the audio in the editor before exporting. If this particular take should be silent, the export dialog can mute it — no need to record again.

Silent recording — check these in order

1. Is the audio source set to none? By far the most common cause. Reopen the Recording tab and confirm.
2. Was the Mac actually playing anything? System audio records what goes to your output device. Headphones are fine — that audio is still captured — but an app muted on its own has nothing to capture.
3. Is system volume at zero? Zero volume is a silent stream, and the recording is silent with it.
4. Is another app holding the microphone? Some conferencing apps take exclusive control. Quit it and try again.
5. Has Microphone access been granted? Check System Settings → Privacy & Security → Microphone.

Echo, or everything twice

If you pick both sources while playing sound through speakers, the microphone records the speakers too — two slightly offset copies of the same audio, which sounds like echo. Two fixes: wear headphones while recording, or capture system audio only and narrate afterwards.

Audio drifting out of sync

Screen Studio takes audio and video from the same ScreenCaptureKit stream on the same clock, so offset does not accumulate over time the way it does when you merge two separate recordings. If you still see drift, the take is almost certainly stitched from clips with different audio sources — check each clip on the timeline.

Next

Once you have a take with audio, export a GIF if you need a short clip for a document (GIFs have no sound), or browse the FAQ.