How to Screen Record With Audio on Mac — 3 Ways That Actually Work
You want to record your screen on Mac with audio — your voice and the sound from your app or browser tab. You open QuickTime, hit record, and discover it captured silence or just your mic. You are not doing anything wrong. This is a genuine macOS limitation, and it affects every built-in recording tool.
Here are the three methods, what each one actually does, and which one to use.
Why Mac Doesn't Record System Audio by Default
Apple blocks apps from capturing system audio — the output from your speakers — without a specific workaround. This affects QuickTime and the Screenshot toolbar equally. Your mic is always available; system audio is not.
- Microphone: Recordable by all three methods.
- System audio (apps, browser, video): Blocked by default on macOS.
- Both together: Only Glooin handles this in one click without extra software.
Method 1: QuickTime Player
QuickTime records your screen and microphone out of the box. For system audio, you need to install a virtual audio driver like BlackHole (free) and route it through Audio MIDI Setup — a setup that takes around 15–20 minutes and causes you to lose speaker output while recording unless you configure an aggregate device.
Steps
- 1Open QuickTime → File → New Screen Recording.
- 2Click the dropdown arrow → select your microphone.
- 3Click record, choose full screen or a region.
-
4Click Stop in the menu bar when done. Saves as a
.movfile on your desktop.
Method 2: Screenshot Toolbar
Press ⌘ Shift 5 to open the toolbar. Select "Record Entire Screen" or "Record Selected Portion", click Options to choose a mic, then hit Record. Same limitation as QuickTime — mic only, no system audio. Recordings save as .mov files locally with no built-in sharing.
Both built-in methods miss system audio and give you a file to upload. There's a faster way.
Try Glooin Free →Method 3: Glooin — Screen + Mic + System Audio + Instant Link
Glooin is a Chrome extension that solves every problem the built-in tools leave open: it records your screen, microphone, and system audio simultaneously — with no driver install — and gives you a shareable link the moment you stop recording. No file to save, no upload step, no sending a 200MB attachment.
Why system audio works without a driver
Glooin captures audio at the browser tab level using Chrome's extension API, which has direct access to any tab's audio stream. This completely bypasses the macOS system audio restriction — no BlackHole, no Loopback, no Audio MIDI Setup. You select "Tab audio" before recording and it just works.
How to record with Glooin
- 1Install Glooin from glooin.com — one click, works immediately.
- 2Click the Glooin icon in your Chrome toolbar.
- 3Choose your recording area: full screen, a specific tab, or a window.
- 4Select audio inputs — mic, tab audio, or both. No configuration needed.
- 5Hit Record. A control bar lets you pause, annotate screenshots, or restart mid-recording.
- 6Click Stop. A shareable link is generated instantly.
- 7Paste the link into Slack, email, Notion, Jira — recipient watches in their browser, no download needed.
What else Glooin does
Who it's for
Glooin is built for teams who share visual information regularly — bug reports, product demos, design feedback, async team updates, customer support walkthroughs, and onboarding videos. The shareable link is the key: instead of exporting a file and uploading it, you paste a link and you're done.
Quick Comparison
| Feature | QuickTime | Screenshot Toolbar | Glooin |
|---|---|---|---|
| Microphone | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| System audio | ~ Driver required | ✗ | ✓ Built-in |
| Mic + system audio together | ~ Complex setup | ✗ | ✓ One click |
| Shareable link | ✗ File only | ✗ File only | ✓ Instant |
| Annotation + blur | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ |
| Pause & resume | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ |
| Cost | Free | Free | Free to start |
Which Method to Use
- Mic only, no system audio needed → Screenshot toolbar (⌘ Shift 5). Fastest, zero setup.
- System audio, willing to set up BlackHole → QuickTime + BlackHole. Works well for long recordings where you need a local file.
- System audio + shareable link, no driver install → Glooin. Record, paste the link, done — under two minutes.
- Bug report, walkthrough, demo, or anything you're sending to someone → Glooin. The instant link alone saves more time than any other feature.
Record screen + audio on Mac. Shareable link in under 2 minutes.
Mic, system audio, blur, annotations — all in one Chrome extension. Free to start, no driver install.
Install Glooin Free → Works on any Mac with Chrome · No credit card requiredFrequently Asked Questions
Built-in tools record your microphone when you select a mic input, but not system audio — the sound from your apps and browser — without an additional virtual audio driver. Glooin captures both your mic and system audio with no driver setup.
Using Glooin: install the Chrome extension, select "Tab audio" before recording, and both mic and system audio are captured. Using QuickTime: install BlackHole (free virtual audio driver), create a Multi-Output Device in Audio MIDI Setup, and route system audio through it.
Most likely no microphone was selected. In QuickTime, click the arrow next to the record button and select a mic under Microphone. If that doesn't help, check System Settings → Privacy & Security → Microphone and ensure QuickTime has access.
QuickTime and the Screenshot toolbar save .mov files locally — you need to upload them to Google Drive or Dropbox to share. Glooin generates a shareable link automatically the moment you stop recording. No upload step, no file size limits.
Yes. Glooin records the browser tab running the meeting, capturing participant audio and your mic without host permission or a Zoom recording licence. It works on any browser-based meeting — Zoom, Google Meet, Teams.
Press ⌘ Shift 5 to open the Screenshot toolbar with recording options. Press ⌘ Ctrl Esc to stop. Note: this method records your mic only, not system audio.
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