How do I record audio from a YouTube video on a Mac?

macOS cannot do it with built-in apps, because neither QuickTime Player nor Voice Memos can capture system audio. Use an app that records browser audio directly, such as Soundshine Record, or install a virtual audio driver like BlackHole and record from it in QuickTime or Audacity.

Is it legal to record audio from YouTube?

It depends on the content and what you do with it. YouTube's Terms of Service prohibit downloading content except through features YouTube provides, such as YouTube Premium offline playback. Recording material you own, material licensed for reuse such as Creative Commons, or public domain works is generally fine. Redistributing someone else's copyrighted audio is not.

Does recording browser audio lose quality?

No. A process tap or virtual driver copies the digital stream before it reaches your speakers, so nothing passes through an analog stage. The recording is limited only by the quality of the original stream and the format you save to.

How do I record only the browser and not my notifications?

You need per-app capture, which selects one application's audio rather than the whole system mix. Soundshine Record, Audio Hijack, Piezo, and OBS can all do this. Virtual audio drivers such as BlackHole cannot, because they only see the final combined mix.

How to Record YouTube Audio on a Mac

Recording audio from a browser tab on a Mac runs into the same wall as everything else: macOS does not let its own recording apps touch system audio. QuickTime Player will happily record your microphone while a video plays and give you a muffled recording of your speakers.

Here is how to get a clean digital capture instead.

First, the Legal Part

Worth being straight about this rather than skipping past it.

YouTube’s Terms of Service prohibit downloading content except through features YouTube itself provides, such as Premium offline playback. Recording the audio output is a technical workaround for that restriction, and the terms do not distinguish based on method.

What is clearly fine: recording your own uploads, content explicitly licensed for reuse such as Creative Commons material, public domain recordings, and lectures or webinars you have permission to capture. What is clearly not: redistributing, republishing, or monetising someone else’s copyrighted audio.

Most people reading this want a reference track, a lecture to listen to offline, or their own video’s audio back because they lost the project file. Use your judgement.

Method 1: Record the Browser Directly (no driver)

Since macOS 14.4, apps can capture audio from other apps through Core Audio process taps. That means recording just Safari or just Chrome, with nothing installed into macOS.

Open Soundshine Record and approve the recording permission once.
In the source list, select your browser by name rather than All System Audio. This keeps notifications, Slack, and everything else out of the file.
Choose your format. AAC (.m4a) for listening, WAV or AIFF if it is going into an editor.
Press record, then play the video.
Stop. The file is in ~/Music/SoundshineRecord.

Two details that matter. Play the video at full volume in the browser, because the capture follows the app’s own output level and a video playing at 20 percent records quietly. And leave the system volume wherever you like, since that only affects your speakers, not the capture.

Passthrough monitoring means you still hear the video while it records, routed through the app rather than your speakers, so there is no echo or doubled audio.

Requires macOS 15 or later. $14.99 one time, with a functional trial.

Method 2: BlackHole (free)

BlackHole is a free, open-source virtual audio driver.

Install BlackHole from existential.audio.
Open Audio MIDI Setup, click +, choose Create Multi-Output Device.
Tick BlackHole 2ch and your real output, so you can still hear.
Set that Multi-Output Device as your output in System Settings > Sound.
In QuickTime Player, choose File > New Audio Recording, click the chevron, and pick BlackHole 2ch.
Record, then play the video.

Free and reliable once configured. The tradeoff is that it captures everything mixed together, so a notification arriving mid-recording is permanently in your file. Set your system output back to your speakers when you are done.

Method 3: OBS (free)

If OBS is already installed, add a macOS Audio Capture source (OBS 30 and later, macOS 13 or later), point it at your browser, and record. It handles per-app capture properly. Setting it up purely for audio is more work than it sounds, since OBS wants to write video.

Getting Good Results

Match the source quality. A 128 kbps stream does not become better by recording it to WAV. Save to AAC at 256 kbps and the file is smaller with no audible loss.

Watch for the ad. Recording a long video on an ad-supported account means recording the ads too. Skip them and trim afterwards, or use a per-app recording you can edit.

Mind the volume ramp. Some browsers fade audio in on playback start. Begin recording a second before you press play and trim the head afterwards.

Check the sample rate. macOS runs at 48 kHz. Recording at 44.1 kHz forces a resample for no benefit.

How to record internal audio on a Mac, all the methods compared
How to record audio on a Mac, the full overview
Recording computer audio with Audacity, if you want to edit afterwards