Record screen with system audio using QuickTime Player on Mac

Have you ever wanted to record screen and audio on Mac computers? You can use QuickTime Player to record both video and audio from your Mac. The QuickTime Player is bundled with your Mac OS. You can find it in the Applications folder or through the Spotlight search on Mac.

Launch QuickTime Player on your Mac. Click File menu, select New Screen Recording from the drop-down menu list. See below screenshot.

quicktime player to record screen on mac

Once the Screen Recording appears, click the down arrow icon next to the record button to choose built-in microphone or external microphone so you record the audio along with your screen recording on Mac. You should raise the volume of your speaker so the microphone can capture the sound. Click the Record button then click to record the full screen, drag to record part of the screen, click the Stop button at the top right section in the top menu bar to end recording.

Can’t record system audio using QuickTime Player

Unfortunately capturing system audio on a Mac is one feature that is missing from the otherwise perfect screen recording solution. Any sound the microphone can receive will be recorded, it is not just sound from the speaker of the Mac. So the sound quality will depend largely on the microphone and the environment.

Record system audio using QuickTime Player – the workaround

Is there any way to record screen with system audio only using QuickTime Player on Mac? Some third-party apps can add this functionality to QuickTime Player or other screen recorders you have. SoundFlower is an open-source virtual sound card for Mac which can help QuickTime player and other screen and/or audio recorders record system audios on Mac.

First of all, installs this free virtual sound card on Mac so other apps on your computer can also make use of it to route and record Mac system audio without having to rely on the speaker or microphone.

To record system sound using QuickTime Player, go to Mac System Preferences to output sound to Soundflower, the virtual sound device on Mac. See more details from this tutorial to record system audio on Mac using Audacity and Soundflower.

output sound to soundflower 2ch on mac

Then open QuickTime player, click on the little arrow on the side of the record button, and from the menu that pops down, you should find the Soundflower along with other microphones you have. You can choose it as the recording device so as to record system audio on Mac with QuickTime Player.

Update Sep 2018: this article was firstly published in Jul 2018 and has since been updated. in this update, we added soundflower to replace the outdated virtual sound card for Mac.