How to Share System Audio on Zoom Mac (Without Screen Sharing)

You’re in a Zoom meeting, and you want to play an audio clip, a podcast snippet, or background music for the group. (Need to share audio in Discord instead? We have a separate guide for that.) You click the microphone icon, but Zoom only picks up your voice. To share your Mac’s internal audio, Zoom forces you to share your screen. But what if you just want to share the audio while keeping your screen private?

macOS doesn’t natively allow you to route system audio directly into a microphone input. You’re left holding your iPhone up to your Mac’s microphone, resulting in terrible, tinny audio that makes you look unprofessional.

The Hard Way: Virtual Cables and Bloatware

If you Google this problem, the traditional advice is a nightmare. You’ll be told to download open-source kernel extensions from 2015 that haven’t been updated for Apple Silicon. If you manage to install them, you then have to navigate the confusing “Audio MIDI Setup” app to create a multi-output device, carefully balancing sample rates just to avoid robotic feedback loops.

Alternatively, you could buy a $100+ professional audio routing software designed for music producers, complete with a subscription fee and a dashboard that looks like an airplane cockpit. All you wanted was a simple toggle switch.

The Soundshine Way: 30 Seconds to Perfect Audio

Soundshine is a strictly native, lightweight (~5 MB) macOS menu bar app built exactly for this. It installs a simple loopback driver that captures your Mac’s system audio (in pristine 32-bit float / 48 kHz stereo) and routes it directly into a virtual microphone.

No subscriptions. No massive control panels. Just a $7.99 one-time purchase to solve the Mac audio routing problem forever.

Step-by-Step: Sharing Mac Audio in Zoom

Here is how to get your system audio playing through Zoom in under a minute, without ever sharing your screen:

1. Install Soundshine: Download and install the app. It supports both Apple Silicon and Intel Macs running macOS 26 Tahoe or later.
2. Toggle it On: Click the Soundshine icon in your Mac’s menu bar and flip the switch to turn on the virtual microphone. (You can also adjust the passthrough volume right from the menu bar).
3. Select Your Source: In the Soundshine menu, ensure it’s set to capture your System Audio.
4. Change Your Zoom Microphone: Open Zoom. Click the arrow next to the mute button and select Soundshine Virtual Mic as your microphone.

That’s it. Whatever is playing on your Mac—Spotify, YouTube, QuickTime—is now being broadcast directly into your Zoom meeting with zero latency. When you’re done, just switch your Zoom microphone back to your default device.

Ready to fix your Mac’s audio?

Stop fighting with Audio MIDI Setup and bloated subscription apps. Get the frictionless, native solution.

Download the free trial of Soundshine today at www.soundshine.app.