How to record internal audio on a Mac

Yes, but how depends on your version of macOS. Internal audio, or system audio, is the sound your Mac plays: a video, a song, the other people on a call. Until recently, macOS's own recorders only took a microphone, which is why so many guides send you off to install a driver. That has changed, but only on the newest version.

• macOS 27 Golden Gate or later: the Screenshot toolbar can record system audio with a screen recording. Nothing to install.
• Any recent version: a virtual audio driver such as BlackHole sends the Mac's sound into any recording app. It's free, but it changes how your Mac's sound is routed.
• macOS 13 or later: apps built on Apple's ScreenCaptureKit can capture the Mac's sound themselves, once you give them permission. No driver.

We make Koi, whose Record calls feature is one of the apps in the third method, so read that part with that in mind. Details about Apple, BlackHole, Rogue Amoeba and OBS come from their own pages, checked October 7, 2026.

The Screenshot toolbar is the screen recorder built into macOS. QuickTime Player's File, New Screen Recording (Control-Command-N) opens the same tools on recent versions, or its own Screen Recording window on some Macs. Here's how to record with the Mac's sound on macOS 27 Golden Gate or later, from Apple's own how-to:

1. Press Shift-Command-5 to open Screenshot.
2. Pick Record Entire Screen, Record Selected Window or Record Selected Portion.
3. Click Options and choose Include System Audio. To record your voice too, choose a microphone in the same menu.
4. Click Record. If you picked a window, click the window you want.
5. To stop, click the Stop button in the menu bar or press Command-Control-Esc.

The file is saved to your desktop by default, as a .mov named Screen Recording followed by the date and time. You can pick another folder under Save to in the same Options menu. When you stop, a thumbnail shows in the corner of the screen: click it to edit the recording, or wait and it saves. If you plan to record both your voice and the Mac's sound, make a short test first and check the balance before it matters.

On macOS Tahoe 26 and earlier, there's no Include System Audio. The only sound choice is a microphone, and QuickTime's own Screen Recording window is the same: a microphone, a volume slider to monitor it, and Apple's advice to lower the volume or use headphones if you get feedback. A microphone can't hear the Mac's sound directly. Without headphones it catches some of it from your speakers, along with the room. With headphones it catches none.

QuickTime's audio-only recorder, File, New Audio Recording, works the same way. You choose a microphone and a quality (High is AAC, Maximum is uncompressed AIFF-C), and that's all. There is no system audio option there.

The limits of the built-in route, in short:

• System audio needs macOS 27 or later.
• It comes with a screen recording. There's no audio-only recording of the Mac's sound.
• Apple notes that some apps, such as the Apple TV app, might not let you record their windows.
• You get a video file, with no transcript.

BlackHole is a virtual audio loopback driver from Existential Audio. It adds a pretend audio device to your Mac: send sound out to it, and any app can record from it as if it were a microphone. It's free (the download page asks for an optional donation) and open source, it runs on Intel and Apple silicon Macs, and it needs no kernel extension.

It works on older versions of macOS and with nearly any app that records audio. The price is setup, and a change to how your Mac's sound is routed. First, install it:

1. Download the installer from existential.audio, or use Homebrew: brew install blackhole-2ch. The 2ch version has two channels, enough for ordinary stereo sound.
2. Close any apps that are playing or recording audio.
3. Open the package and install it.
4. Restart your Mac when it asks.

BlackHole won't appear in Applications. It shows up as an audio device in Audio MIDI Setup, in Sound settings and in your apps. If your Mac only sends sound to BlackHole, it goes into BlackHole and you don't hear it. To hear it and record it at once, BlackHole's guide uses a Multi-Output Device, which plays to your speakers or headphones and to BlackHole together:

1. Open Audio MIDI Setup. Spotlight finds it.
2. If the Audio Devices window doesn't appear, choose Audio Devices from the Window menu.
3. Click + in the bottom-left corner and choose Create Multi-Output Device.
4. Tick your speakers or headphones and BlackHole 2ch. Keep your Mac's built-in output, or another two-channel device, at the top as the main device, and turn on Drift Correction for every device except that one.
5. Right-click the new Multi-Output Device and choose Use This Device For Sound Output.
6. In your recording app, such as GarageBand or Audacity, set the input to BlackHole and record.

That records the Mac's sound only. To get your own microphone in the same recording, for a call say, you also need an Aggregate Device that combines your mic with BlackHole. BlackHole's wiki covers it, and it's another layer of setup.

Before you install it, know what you're signing up for:

• It changes your system audio routing. While the Multi-Output Device is your output, macOS can't change its volume, so your volume keys stop working for it. You set each device's volume in Audio MIDI Setup instead.
• Some apps don't play through a Multi-Output Device at all. BlackHole lists Apple Podcasts and Messages among them.
• AirPods' microphone runs at a lower sample rate, so BlackHole says not to use it as the main device in a Multi-Output or Aggregate Device.
• When you're done, set your sound output back to your speakers or headphones, or the routing stays in place.
• To remove it, BlackHole offers uninstaller packages on its GitHub page.

If you're at home in Audio MIDI Setup, BlackHole is the most flexible free option there is. If you just want one call recorded, it's a lot of plumbing.

Since macOS 13, Apple's ScreenCaptureKit lets apps capture the sound your Mac plays, as well as the screen, with no driver. The catch is permission. You allow each app in System Settings, Privacy & Security, under Screen & System Audio Recording, called Screen Recording on older versions. Apple notes you can let an app record both your screen and audio, or just audio. Only give it to apps you trust.

A few apps that do, with details from their own sites:

Call note takers do this too. Otter has a desktop app that records from your Mac or Windows desktop without a bot joining the call, and Granola uses your computer's audio. See how Koi compares with Otter.ai if you're choosing between them.

Sometimes you want the sound of one app, say a browser tab playing a lecture, without every notification chime on top. The built-in Screenshot toolbar records the Mac's sound as a whole, so for one app you need one of the other routes.

• With BlackHole, set the sending app's audio output to BlackHole (if the app has that setting) and record BlackHole in your recording app. BlackHole's own guide describes this as routing audio between apps.
• In OBS 30 or later, the macOS Audio Capture source can take a single app instead of all desktop audio.
• Audio Hijack records any app or website you pick, or the whole Mac.

Under the hood, macOS has offered developers a way to do this since macOS 14.2: Core Audio taps capture the sound coming out of one app or a group of apps. You never touch them yourself, but along with ScreenCaptureKit they're why newer recorders can skip the driver.

Koi's Record calls isn't a one-app recorder. It takes everything the Mac plays as Them, so music or a video playing during the call ends up in the recording too. Pause it first.

A few usual suspects, from Apple's and BlackHole's own help:

• In the Screenshot toolbar, the microphone is set to None, or you're on macOS Tahoe 26 or earlier, where there's no Include System Audio.
• The recording app isn't allowed to record. Apps that capture the Mac's sound need Screen & System Audio Recording, and apps that record from BlackHole need Microphone access, both in System Settings under Privacy & Security.
• BlackHole's volume is down. Check its input and output levels in Audio MIDI Setup.
• Your Multi-Output Device has BlackHole at the top. BlackHole says your built-in output, or another two-channel device, must be the top device, or sound may not play.
• Sound glitches after a few minutes. Turn on Drift Correction for every device in the Multi-Output Device except the main one.

Recording a song or a video for yourself is one thing. A call has other people in it. In many places, recording a call needs everyone's consent, and in others one person's is enough. Laws differ, so check the rules where you and the other people are. This isn't legal advice.

System audio recorders don't tell anyone. Zoom, Google Meet and Microsoft Teams let people know when their own recording starts. BlackHole, the Screenshot toolbar and Koi's Record calls don't announce themselves. So say it at the start, wait for a yes, and don't record if someone says no.

A recorder on your Mac also keeps the file with you, which is good for privacy and makes you responsible for it. With Koi, the audio and video stay on your Mac, and the transcript too unless you turn on call notes. For Zoom in particular, including how to ask the host for permission, see how to record a Zoom meeting on a Mac.

• On macOS 27 and want a quick screen recording with sound? The Screenshot toolbar.
• On an older Mac, or need the sound inside an audio app? BlackHole, if you don't mind the setup.
• Want audio files from specific apps without touching Audio MIDI Setup? Audio Hijack.
• Recording video or streaming, for free? OBS.
• Recording calls and want who said what, on your Mac? Koi's Record calls.

Not sure which macOS you have? Start with what's already there: press Shift-Command-5 and look under Options for Include System Audio. If it's there, you may not need anything else. If it isn't, the choice is between a driver like BlackHole and an app that captures the sound for you.