How to Add Music to a Screen Recording on Mac

To add music to a screen recording on a Mac, you need an editor that gives the music its own audio track. You import the file, trim it to length, fade both ends, and set its volume well below your voice. QuickTime Player can trim a recording but can't put a music track under it, so use Apple's free iMovie or our editor, Screen Bolt. In Screen Bolt you import the track, drag its edges to trim it, set Fade In and Fade Out in the Audio panel, lower its Volume, and export to MP4.

Most bad results come from two problems: the music isn't licensed for the video, or it's too loud. This page covers both.

Choose music you're allowed to use

Settle this before you edit. If you swap the track after timing cuts and fades to it, you have to redo that work.

• A song you bought or stream isn't licensed for your video. Paying for an album or a streaming service lets you listen to it. It doesn't let you publish it in a demo, tutorial or ad.
• "Royalty-free" doesn't mean free. It means you don't pay each time the video is played. The track can still cost money up front or come with conditions.
• Check three things in the license. Is commercial use allowed? (Product demos and sales videos count.) Do you have to credit the artist? Is any platform excluded?
• Creative Commons has variants. CC BY requires attribution. Any license with "NC" (non-commercial) rules out product and marketing videos.
• Keep the license or receipt. Platforms that scan uploads for copyrighted audio can flag a track you licensed properly, and you'll need that proof to dispute the claim.

For screen videos, choose something steady with no vocals and no big drops. Lyrics compete with your narration. Sudden changes pull attention away from the screen.

Don't play the music while you record

It's tempting to play the track during the recording and let system audio pick it up. Don't. The music then lands in the same track as notification sounds and every other app's audio, so you can't trim, fade or move it on its own.

Record your screen and voice first and add the music afterward. Screen Bolt already saves your microphone and system audio as separate tracks, and the music becomes a third clip you control independently. If you haven't recorded yet, see how to screen record on Mac.

The free route: iMovie

QuickTime Player can't layer music under a video. Apple's free option is iMovie, a general video editor. Record with the Screenshot toolbar (⇧⌘5, Command-Shift-5) or QuickTime Player, then bring the file into iMovie and add your music under it.

As of November 2026, iMovie is free with no subscription. The current US Mac App Store listing requires macOS 26.6 or later, and the download is about 3.6 GB. A store listing in another country showed macOS 15.6, so check what your store requires.

iMovie is enough if you have a finished recording and only need a song under it. It's a general editor, though, so it isn't built around screen recordings.

Add music to a screen recording in Screen Bolt

In Screen Bolt the music goes into the same editor where you trim the recording, add zooms and clean up your voice. Everything below works in the free version. Only exports are limited.

Import the track

1. Stop your recording. By default the editor opens on its own.
2. Open the Media panel in the sidebar and click Import Media, or drop the music file onto the panel.
3. Drag the track's thumbnail onto the timeline. To place it at the playhead instead, click the thumbnail, or right-click it and choose Add to Timeline at Playhead.

You can also use Add Audio Track, which imports an audio file (MP3, WAV or AIFF, for example) directly onto an overlay track as a clip.

The Media panel makes it easy to try several candidates. Import a few, drop one on the timeline, listen, delete it and try the next. Right-click an item and choose Remove from Library to clear it out.

Trim and position the music

• Move it: drag the clip along its track, for example so the music starts after a few silent seconds on a title screen.
• Trim it: drag the clip's left or right edge.
• Remove a section: put the playhead where you want the cut, right-click the clip and choose Split at Playhead. Then select the piece you don't want and press Delete (⌫).
• Give music its own lane: click Add Track to create a new overlay track, then right-click the clip and use Move to Track.
• Extend a short track: right-click the clip, choose Duplicate, and place the copy right after the original. Short fades on both sides of the join hide the seam.

The Audio Clip controls have no loop option, so duplicating the clip is how you cover a video that runs longer than the song.

Fade in and out

1. Click the music clip on the timeline to select it.
2. Open the Audio panel (⌘4, Command-4). The Audio Clip card shows the clip's Volume, Fade In, Fade Out and Mute controls.
3. Set Fade In and Fade Out. Each goes from 0 to 3 seconds.

A 1 to 2 second fade-in sounds natural. At the end, line the fade-out up with the last seconds of the video so the music doesn't cut off when the picture does.

For a fade longer than 3 seconds, split the clip a few seconds before the end. Give the last piece a lower Volume and its own Fade Out, and you have a two-stage fade.

Balance background music under your voice

Background music should be quiet enough that viewers only notice it if it's gone. The usual mistake is music that's too loud.

Work in this order:

1. Fix your voice first. In the Audio panel under Audio Enhance, turn on Volume Normalization, which brings the microphone to about −16 LUFS. Noise Reduction and Voice Clarity are there too. All three affect only the microphone track, never the music. For what the LUFS number means, see what loudness normalization is.
2. Set system audio. If you recorded system audio, set its Volume under System Audio. To drop it entirely, right-click its row on the audio track and choose Remove System Audio.
3. Bring the music in low. Select the music clip and start its Volume well under half. Raise it until you can just hear it under your voice, then lower it slightly.
4. Check each layer alone. Every row on the audio track has an S (solo) button. Solo the microphone, then the music, so one doesn't hide problems in the other.
5. Listen on two outputs. The balance can sound different on laptop speakers and on headphones. If your voice is clear on both, you're done.

The preview volume slider in the playback controls only changes what you hear while editing. Use the clip's own Volume for anything you want in the exported file.

Lower the music while you talk

To make the music drop while you speak and rise in silent stretches (a transition, a long on-screen action), do it with splits:

1. Split the music clip at the start and end of each section where the level should change.
2. Set a lower Volume on the talking sections and a higher one on the gaps.
3. Add a short Fade In and Fade Out (about half a second to a second) to each piece so the level changes don't jump.

For most tutorials, one steady low level is fine. Manual ducking is worth the effort for launch videos and landing-page demos. For other audio layers, see adding click and typing sounds and adding a voiceover.

Export the video with the music

1. Click Export in the editor toolbar.
2. Choose MP4 (H.264, plays everywhere) or MOV (HEVC, smaller files at matching quality).
3. Pick a Quality preset and a Save to folder (Desktop by default).
4. Press Return or click Export. When it's done, Finder shows the file.

Music clips export with their volume and fades, mixed with your microphone, system audio and any sound effects. The export's audio is AAC, 48 kHz stereo, 128 kb/s.

Keep two limits in mind:

• GIF has no sound. A GIF export is silent, so the music is dropped along with all other audio. Use MP4 or MOV.
• Free exports are limited. In the free version, exports are 720p at most, 3 minutes at most, and carry a "Made with Screen Bolt" watermark. Adding music works the same as in Pro. As of November 2026, a $79 one-time license removes those limits; see pricing.

If After recording is set to Export to file, Screen Bolt renders straight to a file and skips the editor. To add music, open the project from File ▸ Open recent and export from the editor. To change the default, choose Open editor in the Record menu. The export documentation covers the remaining options.

Which method to use

Pick iMovie if you already have a finished recording and only need a song under it. Pick Screen Bolt if you also want zooms, voice clean-up, blur or a background in the same pass.

If it doesn't work

• The music clip isn't on the timeline. Overlay tracks may be hidden. Open the visible timelines menu on the timeline and turn on Show Overlay Tracks.
• The exported file has no music. If you exported a GIF, that's why: GIFs are silent. Export MP4 or MOV. Also make sure the clip isn't on Mute and its Volume isn't at 0%.
• Your voice is buried. Turn on Volume Normalization for the microphone, then lower the music clip's Volume. The preview volume slider won't help because it doesn't affect the export.
• System audio clashes with the music. Lower the System Audio volume, or right-click its row and choose Remove System Audio.
• A free export is refused even though you trimmed under 3 minutes. The export sheet checks the length of the full recording, not the trimmed result. Record shorter takes, or use a license.
• Your music edits are gone after reopening a video. A video opened with Create project from video..., opened as a movie file with Open project..., or dropped onto the app isn't saved as a project. Add the music and export in one session. Recordings made in Screen Bolt are saved as projects and autosave.

For other audio problems, see the troubleshooting docs or Mac screen recording has no sound.

FAQ

Can I add music to a video I recorded with QuickTime? Yes. In Screen Bolt, choose File ▸ Create project from video... and add the track as described above. Edits to an imported video aren't saved, so export before you close it.

Does Volume Normalization change the music? No. Normalization, noise reduction and voice clarity apply only to the microphone track. You set the music level yourself with the clip's Volume.

Can I use more than one song? Yes. Import each track and place them one after another, or on separate overlay tracks. Set Fade Out on the first and Fade In on the second to blend them.

Can I export only the audio mix? Not directly. Export System Audio… and Export Microphone Audio… on the track rows save just that raw track as .m4a, without music or volume changes. To keep the mix, export the full video.