Does Screen Recording Record Audio? What You Need to Know

Screen recording captures what's happening on your display — but whether it also captures audio depends on several factors that aren't always obvious. The short answer is: it can, but it doesn't always do so automatically, and the specifics vary quite a bit depending on your device, operating system, app, and settings.

How Screen Recording and Audio Work Together

Screen recording tools capture video frames of your screen at regular intervals. Audio is a separate data stream — and whether that stream gets included depends on which audio source the recorder is pointed at (if any).

There are three distinct audio sources a screen recorder might capture:

• System audio (also called internal audio) — sounds playing on your device: music, video playback, notification sounds, app audio
• Microphone audio — your voice or ambient room sound picked up by the device mic or an external mic
• Both combined — a mixed recording of system audio and microphone input simultaneously

These are independent settings. A recorder can be configured to capture one, both, or neither.

What the Default Behavior Looks Like on Major Platforms 🎙️

Default behavior differs meaningfully across operating systems and devices:

This inconsistency trips people up constantly. A recording made on an iPhone with no changes to settings will produce a video with no audio at all — not even system sound — unless the microphone is toggled on in the Control Center before starting.

Why Internal Audio Is Harder to Capture Than You'd Expect

Capturing system audio (sounds the device itself is producing) is technically more complex than it sounds. The operating system has to route that audio signal to both the speakers and the recording tool simultaneously — something some platforms restrict for copyright or technical reasons.

On macOS, Apple doesn't natively expose internal audio to screen recorders. Tools like QuickTime Player can record your mic, but capturing what's playing through your speakers requires a virtual audio driver (such as BlackHole or Loopback) to create a loopback channel. Without that, your screen recording of a YouTube video, for instance, will be silent.

On Android, internal audio capture was restricted on older versions and only officially supported from Android 10 onward via the MediaProjection API — and even then, some apps and streaming content can flag their audio as protected, blocking it from being recorded.

Windows has generally been more permissive here. The Xbox Game Bar, built into Windows 10 and 11, captures system audio by default when recording games or apps.

Third-Party Screen Recorders and Audio Options

Dedicated screen recording apps — like OBS Studio, Camtasia, Loom, or built-in tools on various platforms — typically give you explicit control over audio sources. You'll usually see options to:

• Select which audio input device to use (microphone, headset, etc.)
• Enable or disable system/desktop audio capture
• Set separate volume levels for each source
• Mix audio tracks independently for editing later

The level of control varies. OBS Studio, for example, gives granular control over multiple audio tracks but has a steeper setup curve. Simpler tools like Loom prioritize ease of use, with less customization over audio routing.

If audio quality matters for your output — a tutorial, a product demo, a recorded meeting — understanding these settings before you hit record matters a lot.

Factors That Affect What Actually Gets Recorded 🔊

Beyond defaults and platform behavior, several variables influence your audio outcome:

• Permissions: Many operating systems now require explicit microphone permission grants per app
• DRM-protected content: Streaming services can flag audio (and sometimes video) to block capture
• Bluetooth audio devices: Some Bluetooth headsets switch to a lower-quality audio profile when mic recording starts, affecting both playback and capture quality
• Virtual meetings: Apps like Zoom or Teams have their own audio routing that may or may not pass through to a screen recorder
• Recording format: Some lightweight screen recorders capture video only and don't support audio encoding at all

When You Might Get Unexpected Results

A few common scenarios where audio behavior surprises people:

• Recording a video call: The screen recorder may capture audio from the meeting app's output, but the other participants' voices could be routed differently depending on your system's audio settings
• Recording a game: Audio capture usually works well on Windows, but console screen recorders (PlayStation, Xbox) have their own rules around party chat vs. game audio
• Recording for accessibility or transcription: If you're capturing audio to feed into a transcription tool, recording only the system audio without your voice (or vice versa) will produce an incomplete transcript

The Missing Piece Is Your Specific Setup

Screen recording can record audio — system audio, microphone audio, or both — but whether it does on your device, with your tool, for your use case, depends on the platform you're on, the app you're using, the permissions that are active, and the settings you've configured before hitting record. The gap between "it can" and "it will" is filled in entirely by your specific situation.