How do I record my screen with audio on Mac?

QuickTime Player, File, New Screen Recording captures video plus your microphone. To include system audio (the sound your Mac is playing back), you need BlackHole or Loopback. Set the system output to a Multi-Output Device that contains BlackHole 2ch and your real speakers, then in the screen recording controls choose BlackHole 2ch as the audio input. The screen recording will now contain the mix of your mic plus whatever the Mac is playing. The shortcut Cmd+Shift+5 opens the same screen recording controls without launching QuickTime first.

Can I record a Zoom meeting with just audio?

Yes. Zoom's built-in Cloud Recording and Local Recording both produce a separate audio-only file alongside the video. In the meeting, click Record (host or co-host permission required), choose where to save. After the meeting ends Zoom writes audio_only.m4a (Local) or a separate MP3 (Cloud) into the recording folder. Convert the M4A to MP3 with [m4a-to-mp3](/m4a-to-mp3) for upload to a podcast host or transcription service. For a deeper walkthrough including the cloud versus local trade-offs, see [how to convert a Zoom recording to MP3](/blog/how-to-convert-zoom-recording-to-mp3).

Where are Voice Memos saved on Mac?

If iCloud sync is off, recordings live at '~/Library/Application Support/com.apple.voicememos/Recordings' as .m4a files. The Library folder is hidden by default in Finder; press Cmd+Shift+G and paste the path. With iCloud sync on, the canonical store is iCloud Drive and the local folder caches whatever is currently downloaded. Voice Memos also exposes recordings via right-click, Share, Save to Files, which copies the M4A to a chosen location (Desktop, Downloads). For background on M4A itself see [what is M4A](/blog/what-is-m4a).

Why can't QuickTime record system sound?

macOS sandboxing prevents any app from capturing another app's audio output through normal APIs — Apple treats it as a privacy boundary, the same reason apps cannot read your clipboard or microphone without permission. QuickTime can only see real input devices: microphones, line-ins, USB interfaces. To record system audio you install a virtual audio device — BlackHole or Loopback — that registers itself with Core Audio as if it were a real sound card. You then send the system output into that virtual device and select it as QuickTime's input. The recording app sees a normal input and works without modification.

What format does GarageBand record in?

GarageBand records into the project's internal format, which is Apple Lossless or AIFF depending on the project sample rate and settings, at 24-bit by default. The .band project file is a bundle that contains the raw tracks plus session metadata. To get a regular audio file out, use Share, Export Song to Disk and choose MP3 (compressed AAC alternative), AAC (M4A), AIFF (uncompressed), or WAVE (also uncompressed). For sharing pick MP3 or AAC; for archival or further editing in another DAW pick AIFF or WAVE. For format background see [lossless vs lossy](/blog/lossless-vs-lossy).

How do I record both microphone and system audio at once?

Open Audio MIDI Setup (in /Applications/Utilities), click the plus, choose Create Aggregate Device. Check both your microphone and BlackHole 2ch. The aggregate device now exposes both streams as channels 1-2 (mic) and 3-4 (BlackHole) of a single multi-channel input. In Audacity, set Recording Channels to 4 and the input to your aggregate device — Audacity records mic and system audio onto separate tracks you can balance independently. QuickTime collapses the channels into stereo, which is fine for casual use but loses the per-source volume control you get from Audacity's track-by-track approach.

Why is my recording quiet?

Two places to check. First, System Settings, Sound, Input, select the microphone you are using and look at the Input level meter while you talk. If the bars barely move, raise the Input volume slider or move closer to the mic. Second, the hardware level on the device itself — most USB mics have a physical gain knob; some Bluetooth headsets default to a low input level when used as a Mac mic. After recording, you can normalize the file by importing it into Audacity, Effect, Volume and Compression, Normalize, and exporting. For the trim-and-compress chain after that, see [audio-trimmer](/audio-trimmer) and [audio-compressor](/audio-compressor).

How to Record Audio on Mac: 2026 Guide

Recording audio on a Mac is one of those tasks Apple makes simple for the easy case (one microphone, no system audio) and unexpectedly fiddly for everything else. The good news: macOS ships with three different recording apps before you install anything, and each is genuinely useful for a specific job. The bad news: capturing system audio — the sound your Mac is playing back — requires routing it through a virtual audio device because of macOS sandboxing.

This guide walks through every built-in option, the BlackHole and Loopback workflow for system audio, the Audio MIDI Setup tricks most users never discover, and the post-recording cleanup chain (trim, compress, convert) that turns a raw recording into a shareable file.

The Three Pre-Installed Recording Apps

Every Mac shipped since Big Sur (macOS 11, 2020) includes Voice Memos, QuickTime Player, and GarageBand pre-installed or available as a free first-party download. None of them require an Apple ID for basic recording.

Voice Memos: Quick Notes, Lectures, Interviews

Voice Memos is the lightest-weight option. Open it from Launchpad or Spotlight, click the red record button, click Done. The app saves files to '~/Library/Application Support/com.apple.voicememos/Recordings' as M4A AAC. With iCloud sync enabled (System Settings, Apple ID, iCloud, Voice Memos), recordings appear automatically on your iPhone and iPad.

Quality settings live under Voice Memos, Settings, Audio Quality. Compressed (the default) writes M4A AAC at roughly 64 kbps mono — fine for spoken-word notes but thin for music. Lossless writes M4A ALAC at the input device's native rate (typically 44.1 or 48 kHz, 16-bit) and produces files about 20 times larger. For interviews you plan to transcribe, Lossless gives a transcription engine more to work with; for personal voice notes, Compressed is the right default.

The built-in trim and replace tools are buried but powerful. Open a recording, tap the waveform icon at the top right, then Edit Recording. You can trim heads and tails, delete a middle section, or re-record over a region. After editing, share via the export menu — or pull the M4A out of the Recordings folder above and run it through m4a-to-mp3 for an MP3 you can attach to email.

QuickTime Player: Single-File Microphone Captures

QuickTime is the right choice when you want a single audio file from one input — a USB mic, a Bluetooth headset, or the built-in mic — without the overhead of opening a DAW. File, New Audio Recording, click the red dot. Click the disclosure arrow next to the record button to pick the input device and quality (High writes 256 kbps AAC, Maximum writes uncompressed AIFF). Output defaults to M4A AAC at 256 kbps unless you pick Maximum.

QuickTime cannot record system audio on its own. macOS sandboxing prevents one app from grabbing another app's output stream by design, and Apple has not exposed a screen-recording-style API for audio-only capture. The workaround is BlackHole, covered below.

GarageBand: Recording with Effects, Multi-Track, and Real Editing

GarageBand is overkill for a voice memo and exactly right for anything where you want EQ, compression, noise gate, or multi-track layering. New Project, Voice, click the red record button on a track. Internally GarageBand records at the project sample rate (44.1 or 48 kHz) into Apple Lossless or AIFF, depending on settings. To export, use Share, Export Song to Disk, then choose MP3, AAC, AIFF, or WAVE.

The compressor and noise-gate plug-ins on a Voice track are decent for podcasting if you do not own a dedicated mic preamp. The Vocal preset chain (under Smart Controls, Voice patch presets) gives a usable starting point for spoken-word recordings.

The System-Audio Gap: Why You Need BlackHole or Loopback

macOS does not let an app capture another app's audio output natively. This is a deliberate privacy decision: a malicious app should not be able to record everything you hear. The architectural workaround is a virtual audio device — a kernel extension that appears to macOS as a regular sound card. You set system output to the virtual device, and any recording app that selects the same virtual device as input now sees what the system is playing.

BlackHole (Free, Open Source)

BlackHole, by Existential Audio, is the de facto free option. Install via Homebrew with 'brew install blackhole-2ch' or grab the package installer from existential.audio. After install, BlackHole 2ch appears under System Settings, Sound, Output and Input.

To record system audio only:

1. Set the system output to BlackHole 2ch (you will not hear anything — the audio is being routed to BlackHole instead of your speakers). 2. In QuickTime, New Audio Recording, click the disclosure arrow, choose BlackHole 2ch as the input. 3. Record. Stop. The file contains the system audio.

To monitor while you record (so you can hear what the Mac is playing), open Audio MIDI Setup (in /Applications/Utilities), click the plus button, choose Create Multi-Output Device. Check both BlackHole 2ch and your real output (built-in speakers or headphones). Set this Multi-Output Device as your system output. Now BlackHole still receives the signal for recording, and your speakers also play it for monitoring.

To record system audio and your microphone into a single file, create an Aggregate Device in Audio MIDI Setup (plus button, Create Aggregate Device). Check BlackHole 2ch and your microphone. In QuickTime or Audacity, select the aggregate device as input. The two streams arrive on separate channels of a multi-channel input, which Audacity can split into separate tracks.

Loopback (Rogue Amoeba, $109)

Loopback by Rogue Amoeba does the same job with a GUI. You drag application icons into a virtual device's source list, set per-app gain, and hand the resulting device to any recording app. It is worth the $109 if you do this often or need to isolate specific apps (capture only Zoom, ignoring Spotify) without per-session reconfiguration. For one-off jobs, BlackHole is enough.

Post-Recording Cleanup

Raw recordings almost always need three things: silence trimming at the start and end, compression to a sensible file size for sharing, and a format change for the destination.

Trim the silence. Open the file in audio-trimmer and drag the handles to crop the dead air at both ends. The trimmer runs entirely in your browser, so your audio never uploads anywhere. For mid-file edits, audio-cutter lets you cut out arbitrary sections. If you prefer a desktop tool, the Audacity workflow in how to cut audio in Audacity covers the same edits.

Compress for sharing. A 30-minute Voice Memo at Lossless quality is around 250 MB — too big for most email attachments and slow to upload. audio-compressor drops it to 30-60 MB at 96 kbps mono with no audible loss for speech. The audio bitrate explainer walks through the trade-offs.

Convert format. Voice Memos and QuickTime both write M4A by default. Most of the web prefers MP3 for legacy compatibility — old podcast hosts, embedded players, some chat apps. Run M4A through m4a-to-mp3; for the WAV-to-MP3 path see wav-to-mp3. Background on the formats lives in what is M4A and what is MP3.

Privacy Note

Every option in this guide records on-device. Voice Memos, QuickTime, GarageBand, and BlackHole all run locally; nothing about the recording itself sends audio to a server. iCloud sync (if enabled in Voice Memos) does upload encrypted copies to Apple's servers for cross-device access — disable it under Settings, Voice Memos if you want strict on-device only. Browser-based AudioUtils tools also keep the audio local for the conversion step; the file never leaves your machine.

Summary

For quick voice notes, Voice Memos. For a single clean recording from one mic, QuickTime. For polished podcast-style output, GarageBand. For system audio, install BlackHole and route through a Multi-Output Device. After recording, run the file through the trim-compress-convert chain to get a shareable artifact. The whole pipeline can stay local on your Mac with no third-party cloud uploads.