Discord Screen Share Audio Not Working on Mac: The Fix

You start a screen share in Discord, look for the option to share your audio too, and it is either missing, greyed out, or it shows but no one can hear anything. You are not imagining it. Discord’s audio capture on Mac has been broken or unreliable across multiple macOS versions.

Here is what is going on and how to actually fix it.

Why Discord Audio Sharing Fails on Mac

Discord’s screen share audio feature relies on macOS’s screen capture APIs. Apple has progressively restricted what third-party apps can access in this area. On macOS 12 Monterey and earlier, Discord had a somewhat working audio capture implementation. On macOS 13 Ventura and macOS 14 Sonoma, it became inconsistent.

The symptoms vary:

• The “Also share audio” toggle is missing from the screen share dialog
• The toggle appears but no audio comes through
• Audio works briefly then cuts out
• Audio works for some apps (like Chrome) but not others (like Spotify or system sounds)

Discord has acknowledged these issues in their community forums, and the behavior differs based on which macOS version you are on, which Discord build you have, and which app you are trying to share audio from.

The Reliable Fix: Virtual Audio Driver

The most reliable way to share audio on Discord on Mac does not involve screen sharing at all. You route your system audio into Discord’s microphone input using a virtual audio driver. This works on every macOS version and does not depend on Discord’s screen capture code.

Using Soundshine:

1. Download and install Soundshine
2. Click the Soundshine icon in your menu bar and toggle it on
3. In Discord, go to User Settings (the gear icon near your username)
4. Click Voice and Video
5. Under Input Device, select “Soundshine Microphone”
6. Play whatever audio you want to share. Everyone in the voice channel hears it.

One important setting: Discord’s noise suppression is designed for voice and will mangle music. In the same Voice and Video settings, turn off noise suppression and echo cancellation. Otherwise Discord will try to filter out the music as if it were background noise.

Soundshine costs $7.99 one-time, with a free trial.

Using BlackHole (free):

BlackHole works the same way, without the cost. The setup is longer: you need to create a Multi-Output Device in macOS Audio MIDI Setup that routes system audio to BlackHole, then select BlackHole as your Discord input. About 20 to 30 steps total. Once set up, it works reliably.

If You Specifically Need Screen Share With Audio

If you need to share both your screen and audio simultaneously (for example, showing someone a video with sound), the most reliable approach is still the virtual mic method, just with screen share running at the same time.

1. Start the virtual mic (Soundshine or BlackHole) so your system audio appears as a microphone
2. Start Discord screen share normally (without the audio toggle)
3. Discord carries your screen visually, and your system audio comes through the virtual mic

This separates the two functions and avoids the buggy interaction between Discord’s screen capture and its audio capture on Mac.

Quick Check Before Anything Else

If you have not tried this yet: go to System Settings, Privacy and Security, Screen Recording, and make sure Discord is listed and checked. Discord needs screen recording permission even just to attempt audio sharing. If it is not listed, run a screen share in Discord, and macOS will prompt you to grant permission.

This does not fix the underlying audio issue for most people, but it is worth ruling out before adding any software.

The Short Version

Discord’s built-in audio sharing on Mac is unreliable. For a stable solution, use a virtual audio driver and set it as Discord’s microphone input. Disable Discord’s noise suppression when sharing music or system audio.

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Download Soundshine free and try it before buying. It sets up in about 30 seconds, and you can test it before deciding whether $7.99 is worth it for your situation.

The same approach works in Zoom, Google Meet, and FaceTime.