To capture sound from apps, videos, or games playing on your Mac along with a screen recording, first check which recording controls QuickTime opens. On macOS 27, the Screenshot controls include an Include System Audio option. On earlier macOS versions, QuickTime’s built-in screen recording offers microphone input, but capturing system sound requires routing it through a virtual audio device such as BlackHole.

Check whether your Mac has the system audio option

Open QuickTime Player and choose File > New Screen Recording (or press Control-Command-N). If macOS opens the Screenshot toolbar, choose the screen or portion to record, click Options, and look for Include System Audio. Apple documents this option for macOS 27 Golden Gate or later. Enable it before recording. To add your voice, choose a microphone in the same options menu. Start and stop recording from the toolbar; the recording saves to the location shown under Options > Save to. Apple’s screen recording instructions

If Include System Audio is absent, your version of macOS may not have that control. Apple documents QuickTime’s older recording window as allowing microphone selection, not a system-audio toggle. The microphone setting captures sound entering through a microphone; it does not by itself capture the audio output of apps. Apple’s instructions for QuickTime screen recording

Route system audio into QuickTime with BlackHole

On a Mac without the system audio option, BlackHole can route audio between apps through a virtual device. This adds setup outside QuickTime, and it changes where your Mac sends audio while recording. BlackHole is a third-party audio driver; install it using the project’s official instructions. The project offers a two-channel build called BlackHole 2ch. BlackHole project and installation information

To capture system audio and still hear it through headphones or speakers:

  1. Install BlackHole 2ch and restart if the installer asks. Close and reopen audio apps if they do not show the new device.

  2. Open Applications > Utilities > Audio MIDI Setup. Click + and choose Create Multi-Output Device. Select both BlackHole 2ch and the headphones or speakers you use for listening. The Multi-Output Device sends Mac audio to both destinations. BlackHole’s setup guide

  3. In System Settings > Sound > Output, choose the Multi-Output Device. Play a short sound and confirm you can hear it. If you select BlackHole alone as the output, you may no longer hear playback through your normal listening device.

  4. Open QuickTime and choose File > New Screen Recording. In QuickTime’s recording window, click the arrow beside the Record button and select BlackHole 2ch as the microphone or input. If the command opens the Screenshot toolbar instead, open Options > Microphone and select BlackHole there. Start the recording, play the sound you want to capture, then stop and review the saved video.

Include your voice as well

Selecting BlackHole as the recording input captures the routed system audio, but it does not automatically mix in your physical microphone. To capture both sources in the older Screenshot or QuickTime workflow, BlackHole’s guide describes combining BlackHole and a microphone in an Aggregate Device, then selecting that device as the recorder’s microphone input. It also recommends monitoring with headphones to reduce the chance that speakers feed the system audio back into your mic. BlackHole’s system audio and microphone guide

Before an important recording, make a brief test: speak, play system audio, stop, and play back the file. If only your voice is present, check that BlackHole is included in the selected input device and that the Multi-Output Device is selected as sound output. When finished, switch System Settings > Sound > Output back to your usual device if you no longer want audio routed through the Multi-Output Device.

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