Mac Screen Recording Has No Sound? How to Fix It

If your Mac screen recording has no sound, the microphone was most often set to None. In the Screenshot toolbar (⇧⌘5, Shift-Command-5) and in QuickTime Player, click Options and choose a microphone under Microphone before you start recording.

If your voice is there but the sound from apps, videos or calls is missing, nothing is broken. The built-in recorder only records from a microphone. To capture app sound, you need a recorder that records system audio.

Why a Mac screen recording has no sound: find which audio is missing

A Mac recording can carry two kinds of sound:

• Microphone audio: your voice.
• System audio: everything your apps play.

Each one fails for different reasons. Play the file back and match what you hear:

If a recording was made without sound, the missing audio can't be recovered from it. Fix the cause, then record again.

QuickTime screen recording has no audio: choose a microphone in Options

Symptom: the whole recording is silent.

Why: the screen recorder built into macOS records sound only from the microphone you pick in its Options menu. If None is selected, the file has no audio at all. QuickTime Player opens the same toolbar, so it has the same setting.

1. Press ⇧⌘5, or open QuickTime Player and choose File > New Screen Recording.
2. Click Record Entire Screen or Record Selected Portion.
3. Click Options.
4. Under Microphone, choose your microphone instead of None.
5. Click Record. In Screen Bolt: click Mic in the recording bar and pick a microphone. The system default is marked "(default)", and Don't record microphone turns the mic off. While the mic is on and you aren't recording, a thin level meter runs along the bottom of the Mic button. Say a few words and check that it moves before you press record.

Check Microphone permission

Symptom: a third-party recorder produces silent files, or refuses to start.

Why: macOS blocks microphone input for any app you haven't allowed. In Screen Bolt, a recording with Mic on won't start without permission, and a red banner says "Microphone access is required to record mic audio."

1. Open System Settings and go to Privacy & Security > Microphone.
2. Turn on the switch next to your recording app.
3. Quit the recording app and open it again.

In Screen Bolt, choose Help > Screen Bolt Help (⌘?, Command-Question Mark). The Permissions panel shows Microphone as "Granted", "Denied" or "Not Determined", and its Open Settings button opens the right pane.

If the switch is on and the mic still records nothing, reset the app's microphone decision in Terminal:

tccutil reset Microphone com.screenbolt.Screen-Bolt

This clears Screen Bolt's microphone permission, so macOS asks again the next time you record with Mic on. There's nothing to undo: you grant access again at the prompt. For another app, replace the last part with that app's bundle identifier.

Check the input device and level

Symptom: you chose a microphone, but your voice is missing or barely audible.

Why: the device you picked may not be the one you're speaking into, or its input volume may be very low.

1. Open System Settings > Sound and click Input.
2. Select the microphone you plan to record with.
3. Speak and watch the Input level meter.
4. If the meter barely moves, drag Input volume up.

You can also check a mic in your browser with our free microphone test. If the browser has mic access and the meter still stays flat, the problem is the mic or its connection, not your recorder.

Record system audio (app, browser and call sound)

Symptom: your voice is recorded, but the video, music, browser tab or call you were capturing is silent.

Why: the Screenshot toolbar and QuickTime have no setting for the sound your apps play. Turning up the speakers so the mic picks it up technically works, but it sounds hollow and records the room too.

There are two practical routes.

A recorder that captures system audio. Screen Bolt records app sound itself through macOS's ScreenCaptureKit, so you don't need to install an audio driver:

1. In the recording bar, click Audio.
2. Choose Record system audio from all apps.
3. Pick your microphone under Mic if you also want your voice.

There's no extra permission for this. System audio comes through the same Screen Recording access every recording needs (the pane is called Screen & System Audio Recording in macOS 15 and later). Your mic is saved as a separate track, so you can set each volume on its own in the editor's Audio panel.

One catch: Record system audio from selected apps currently records all apps, and there's no app picker. Turn on Do Not Disturb or a Focus before recording if you don't want notification sounds in the video.

A loopback audio driver such as BlackHole. It routes app audio into another app's input, so QuickTime can record it as if it were a microphone. You set up the routing yourself, usually with a multi-output device in Audio MIDI Setup so you can still hear what's playing. Our guide to recording internal audio on Mac covers both routes, and how to screen record on Mac with audio walks through a full setup.

Screen Bolt's free version records system audio and your mic; free exports are watermarked and limited to 3 minutes at 720p (see pricing).

Free the microphone from another app

Symptom: the video records fine but the mic track is empty. In Screen Bolt, an amber banner says the mic "couldn't be opened" or "didn't start delivering audio. It may be in use by another app."

Why: another app can be holding the microphone so your recorder can't open it. Call apps, other screen recorders and audio software are the usual suspects.

1. Look for the orange dot in the menu bar. It means an app is using the microphone.
2. Open Control Center to see which apps are using it, apart from your recorder.
3. Quit that app, or end its call.
4. Start a new recording.

Screen Bolt doesn't stop when the mic fails to open. It keeps recording without the mic, so you still get the video. If you see the amber banner at the start, stop and record again.

Bluetooth headphones and AirPods

Symptoms: the recording used the AirPods mic when you expected the Mac's. Or your voice sounds thin and muffled. Or the audio drops out partway through.

Why: when AirPods connect, macOS may switch the input to them. They can also hop to your iPhone or iPad in the middle of a recording. And using a Bluetooth headset's mic lowers the sound quality, including what you hear in your ears.

Fixes:

• Pick the microphone by name in your recorder instead of relying on the system default.
• Record your voice with the built-in or a USB mic and keep the AirPods for listening.
• If a recorder doesn't list your AirPods, reopen it after connecting them. Screen Bolt refreshes its device list automatically when a mic is connected or removed.
• To stop AirPods jumping between devices, open System Settings while they're connected, select your AirPods, and set Connect to This Mac to When Last Connected to This Mac.

More detail is in using AirPods to record screen audio.

If you use an iPhone as Screen Bolt's second camera and want its microphone, open the Camera menu and turn on Record iPhone audio in the Second camera section. It's off by default.

Read Screen Bolt's mic warnings

Screen Bolt shows audio problems in an amber banner under the recording bar. When the mic fails at the start, the banner reads "Recording without microphone — " followed by one of these reasons:

• "Recording finished with N dropped frame(s) (video: …, system audio: …, mic: …). Likely cause: slow disk or thermal throttle." If the system audio or mic counts aren't zero, expect short gaps in that track.
• "N break(s) in the microphone timeline, which can sound like brief clicks or crackle." The mic track has gaps where you'll hear clicks.

To fix either one:

• Free up disk space. Screen Bolt also warns with "Low disk space" during a recording.
• Quit heavy apps and let a hot Mac cool down.
• Prefer a wired mic over Bluetooth.
• Set Settings > Quick export > Frame rate to 30 FPS. This setting controls the recording frame rate as well as exports.

Choppy or laggy screen recordings covers the same causes in more depth.

The sound is there but you can't hear it

If the file plays with sound in another app, the audio exists and something in the editor is muting it. In Screen Bolt's editor, check:

• Preview volume. The volume slider and mute toggle in the playback controls affect the preview only, not the export.
• Audio panel. Make sure the System Audio and Microphone volumes aren't at 0%. "No system audio track in source." means the recording was made without system audio.
• Solo buttons. The S button on an audio track row solos that track, so the other tracks go quiet.
• Clip settings. A selected audio clip has its own Mute switch.
• Format. GIF exports never have sound. Export MP4 or MOV if you need audio.

If you set a loopback driver such as BlackHole as your Mac's output, you won't hear anything unless the output is a multi-output device that includes your speakers or headphones. Check System Settings > Sound > Output.

When to contact Apple or us

If the built-in recorder stays silent with the right mic selected, the input meter in System Settings > Sound moves, and other apps record your voice fine, contact Apple Support. Tell them your macOS version, the microphone, and that the Screenshot toolbar records no audio with that mic selected.

For Screen Bolt, choose Help > Report an Issue…. It opens a pre-filled email with your app version, macOS version, Mac model and permission states. Nothing is sent until you send it. Please include:

• The exact banner text.
• Your microphone model and how it connects (built-in, USB or Bluetooth).
• Whether the same mic works in other apps.

Our support page and the troubleshooting docs cover other recording problems. If the recording itself won't start, see screen recording not working on Mac.