How to Share Audio in Google Meet Without Screen Sharing

You’re in the middle of a Google Meet call and you want to play a song for the group, or share audio from a YouTube video, or trigger a sound effect during a presentation. The obvious next thought: “I’ll just play it on my Mac and everyone will hear it.” But they won’t. Your microphone picks up your voice, not your system audio. And Google Meet doesn’t give you a simple “share audio” button.

The workaround most people land on is screen sharing. Meet lets you share a Chrome tab “with audio,” and that technically works. But now everyone is staring at your browser tab, you can’t switch windows, and if you wanted to play audio from a desktop app (Spotify, Keynote, a local video file), you’re out of luck entirely.

There is a better way. This guide walks through two approaches to sharing audio in Google Meet without showing your screen.

Why Google Meet Makes This So Hard

Google Meet’s audio sharing feature has a few significant limitations that catch people off guard:

1. Chrome only. Tab audio sharing only works in Google Chrome. If you use Safari, Firefox, or Arc on your Mac, the option simply doesn’t exist.
2. Tied to screen sharing. There is no standalone “share audio” toggle. You have to initiate a screen share first, then check the “Share tab audio” box. Your participants will see whatever tab you’re sharing.
3. Tab audio only. Even when it works, Meet can only capture audio from a single Chrome tab. Audio from desktop apps, other browsers, or system sounds won’t come through.
4. Unreliable on Mac. Many Mac users report that tab audio sharing is inconsistent. Sometimes the audio checkbox is grayed out, sometimes the audio simply doesn’t transmit, and there’s no clear error message explaining why.

For teachers playing educational videos, presenters sharing demo audio, DJs previewing tracks, or remote workers who just want to play a clip for their team, these limitations turn a simple task into a frustrating one.

Option 1: Share a Chrome Tab with Audio (Limited)

If the audio you want to share lives in a Chrome tab (a YouTube video, a SoundCloud track, a web-based audio player), Meet’s built-in option can work. Here’s how:

1. Open Google Chrome and join your Google Meet call.
2. Open the audio source (YouTube, etc.) in a separate Chrome tab.
3. In Google Meet, click the Share screen button (the upward arrow icon at the bottom of the screen).
4. Select the A Tab option at the top of the sharing dialog.
5. Choose the tab with your audio source.
6. Make sure the Share tab audio toggle in the bottom-left corner is turned on.
7. Click Share.

Your participants will now hear audio from that tab, and they’ll also see the tab’s contents on their screen.

The Drawbacks

This approach works in a pinch, but the limitations are real. You’re locked into Chrome. Your audience sees whatever is on the tab. If you need to play audio from Spotify, a local file, Keynote, or any other desktop app, this method won’t help. And if you’re on a Mac using Safari as your default browser, you’ll need to switch your entire workflow to Chrome just for this one feature.

Option 2: Use a Virtual Microphone (Works with Any Audio Source)

The cleaner solution is a virtual audio cable. The idea is simple: instead of routing your system audio through your physical speakers and hoping your microphone picks it up, you route it directly into a virtual microphone that Google Meet can use as an input device.

This is where Soundshine comes in. Soundshine is a macOS menu bar app that creates a virtual microphone from your system audio. Anything playing on your Mac (music, videos, sound effects, app audio, literally anything) gets routed to a virtual mic input that Google Meet, Zoom, Discord, or any other app can use.

No screen sharing. No Chrome requirement. No tab restrictions.

How to Set It Up

1. Install Soundshine. Download and run the guided setup wizard. It installs a lightweight audio driver in about 30 seconds.
2. Turn on routing. Click the Soundshine icon in your menu bar and flip the routing toggle to “on.”
3. Select the mic in Google Meet. In your Meet call, click the three-dot menu, go to Settings, then Audio. Under Microphone, select Soundshine Microphone.
4. Play your audio. Hit play on whatever you want to share. Spotify, a YouTube video, a local audio file, a Keynote presentation with embedded audio. It all goes straight to the call.

That’s it. Your participants hear whatever is playing on your Mac, and you never have to share your screen.

What About Your Own Audio?

A common concern: “If my system audio is going to the virtual mic, can I still hear it myself?” Yes. Soundshine includes zero-latency passthrough, so audio continues playing through your speakers or headphones at the same time it’s being routed. You can even adjust the passthrough volume independently, so you can turn down your local playback without affecting what your call participants hear.

Can You Talk and Share Audio at the Same Time?

This is worth addressing because it comes up a lot. When Soundshine is active, the virtual mic carries your system audio. If you also need to speak, you have a couple of options. You can toggle Soundshine off when you want to talk and back on when you want to share audio. Or, if you’re primarily sharing audio and only need to chime in occasionally, your real mic and the virtual mic can be swapped quickly from Meet’s audio settings.

Which Approach Should You Use?

If you just need to share audio from a single Chrome tab once in a while, Meet’s built-in tab sharing works fine. It’s not elegant, but it gets the job done without installing anything.

If you regularly share audio in calls, if you use apps outside of Chrome, or if you’re on a Mac and want something that just works regardless of browser, Soundshine is the better path. It takes 30 seconds to set up, lives quietly in your menu bar, and works with every audio source on your Mac.

Quick Reference

	Meet Tab Sharing	Soundshine
Browser	Chrome only	Any browser
Audio sources	One Chrome tab	All system audio
Screen visible to others	Yes (shared tab)	No
Desktop app audio	Not supported	Supported
Setup time	None	30 seconds
macOS native	No	Yes

The next time you need to play a song, share a video clip, or demo an app’s audio in Google Meet, you don’t have to choose between showing your screen and staying silent. A virtual microphone gives you a direct line from your Mac’s audio to your call, no screen sharing required.