Record system audio on PC with ShareX

ShareX is an impressive free toolkit with so many useful tools, screen capture, screen video recorder, digital audio recorder and many more. It is just as good and sometimes even better than premium apps. Some cool features most of us are unaware of. Today, we will introduce one of the best hidden features of ShareX, recording system audio from Windows PC.

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Capture system sound from Windows computer

Run ShareX on your Windows computer. From the left panel, click Task Settings to open it in a new window. Choose Capture >> Screen Recorder from the left panel, then hit the Screen recording options button in the right column.

sharex screen recording options - record system audio as mp3 on windows computer
ShareX screen recording options to record system audio, internet radio, streaming music Windows computer – ShareX version 15.0

Installing virtual audio capturer

By default, ShareX can only capture sound from your microphone. Before you can record system audio on PC, you need to install the virtual audio device. Click Install recorder to download and install the required recorder devices for ShareX on your computer.

Disable video recording in ShareX

ShareX does not provide a separate audio recorder. We can however disable video capture and thus record only audio. In the above Screen recording options window, click the Video source box and select None.

Enable system audio recording in ShareX

From the same screen, choose “virtual-audio-capturer” as the audio source. We are now ready to capture any sound from PC, such as internal radio, streaming music, iTunes music and so on. Just play any audio or music you like to capture and follow below steps to capture and save them as audio files on your computer.

Save sound recordings as MP3

Just like the stock audio recorder in Windows, ShareX automatically saves your sound recordings as M4A files. If you need other file formats due to compatibility concern, ShareX allow you to select output audio format, say you can choose to record sound as MP3, OPUS, or OGG files on Window computer. To record system audio as MP3 on Windows PC, you just need to choose MP3 from the Audio codec section, optionally adjust the audio quality from ShareX – Screen recording options.

Testing the audio recorder

Before recording important content, do a test recording to ensure everything is set up correctly. Don’t forget that you can adjust the audio settings in ShareX to achieve the desired recording quality and higher audio quality often results in larger file sizes.

Record sound from your speaker

From the left panel of main interface of ShareX, click Capture, then choose Screen Recording from the sub-menu. Drag and drop to draw a small rectangle on your computer screen to start recording audio using ShareX. Click Stop button to complete. The recorded audio file will be added to the file list in ShareX main interface. You can also go to ShareX left panel > Screenshots folder… to open it in Windows File Explorer.

Audio recording extra tips

  • The exact steps might slightly vary based on the version of Audacity you are using.
  • Ensure that you comply with all applicable laws and regulations when recording internal audio.

Record internal sound on Mac

Are you using a Mac? While ShareX for Mac is not available at the moment, you need to install another virtual sound device on Mac. Don’t miss out this tutorial to record system audio on Mac with QuickTime Player in conjunction with a free virtual audio device that can route audio from one app to another on Mac.

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