How to Record Internal (System) Audio on a Mac

You hit record, played the video, ran the demo — and the recording is silent. macOS records your microphone, not the sound the Mac itself is playing. This guide covers why, the virtual-driver workaround people usually land on, and the one-toggle way to capture internal audio with ScreenTailor.

Why QuickTime can't do it

QuickTime and the built-in Shift+Cmd+5 recorder list microphones as their audio sources. Your Mac's own output — a YouTube tab, a Zoom call, app sound effects, game audio — never appears in that list, because macOS doesn't expose it as an input. Turning the volume up doesn't help; pointing the mic at the speakers just records a bad echo of it.

The old way: virtual audio drivers

The classic workaround is a virtual audio device — BlackHole, Loopback and similar tools. You install a driver, route your system output into it (often via a Multi-Output Device in Audio MIDI Setup so you can still hear anything), then pick the virtual device as the "microphone" in your recorder. It genuinely works, and for complex routing it's a fine tool. But for "I just want the demo to have sound" it's a lot: a kernel-adjacent driver install, settings that silently break when your output device changes, and audio you can't monitor while recording unless the routing is set up just right.

The simple way: one toggle

ScreenTailor captures system audio natively through Apple's ScreenCaptureKit — the same macOS 13+ framework that handles the screen capture itself. No driver, no routing, no extra permission beyond the screen recording you've already granted.

1. Start a capture — global shortcut, drag a region.
2. Check the speaker toggle in the capture bar. It's on by default.
3. Record. Your Mac's sound is captured directly from the apps — even with the output muted.
4. Edit and export. System audio gets its own volume slider in the editor, and the export mixes it into a share-ready MP4.

Want narration on top? Pick a mic as well — both are recorded as separate tracks. The full workflow is in how to record your Mac screen with audio.

Tips for clean system audio

• Mute notifications, not the Mac. Capture picks up every app's sound, so turn on Do Not Disturb — but feel free to mute your speakers; the recording doesn't need them.
• Balance in the editor, not in the room. If music fights your narration, lower the system audio slider afterwards instead of re-recording.
• Flubbed a take? Checkpoint Recording lets you re-record just that clip — audio included.
• On macOS 12? System audio capture needs macOS 13+; recordings there capture screen and mic.

Frequently asked questions