How to Record Your Screen With Audio in QuickTime

Step by step

1. 15 sec

   Start a screen recording from QuickTime

   Open QuickTime Player from the Applications folder. Choose File > New Screen Recording. This does not open a QuickTime window. It hands you the system screenshot toolbar across the bottom of the screen, the same toolbar Command + Shift + 5 produces.

   Note: They will tell you the recorder was redesigned. It is the same recorder, wearing the screenshot tool's coat since Mojave.
2. 20 sec

   Choose your microphone under Options

   Click Options in the toolbar. Under Microphone, choose an input: the built-in microphone, a USB interface, whatever is plugged in. None is selected by default, so a recording started without touching this menu has no sound in it at all.

   Note: The setting is sticky. Set it once and every recording after that carries your keyboard, your chair, and your breathing.
3. 30 sec

   Know what QuickTime will not record

   QuickTime captures microphone input only. Sound played by your Mac, such as a video, a call, or a game, is not captured. macOS provides no built-in route from system output back into a recorder. That is a design decision, not a fault in your setup.

   Note: Every year or so someone insists there is a hidden checkbox. Open the Options menu and read it. It lists inputs, never outputs.
4. 3 min

   Install a virtual audio driver

   To capture system sound you install a third-party audio driver that presents itself to macOS as an input device. BlackHole is free and open source. Loopback from Rogue Amoeba is paid. Both create a virtual device that any recorder treats as a microphone.

   Note: The new device will not appear in the list until Core Audio registers it. If it is missing, log out and back in.
5. 2 min

   Build a Multi-Output Device

   Open Audio MIDI Setup in Applications > Utilities. Click the plus button at the bottom left and choose Create Multi-Output Device. Tick both your normal speakers and the virtual driver. Then select that device as the output in System Settings > Sound.

   Note: A Multi-Output Device has no volume control. Your volume keys stop working while it is selected. Switch back to speakers afterwards.
6. 30 sec

   Record with the driver as your input

   Back in the screenshot toolbar, open Options and choose the virtual driver under Microphone. Select a recording area, click Record, and stop with the stop button in the menu bar or by pressing Command + Control + Esc.

   Note: You now hear nothing unless your headphones were added to the Multi-Output Device. Check that before recording an hour of anything.