RecordAudio

Record your Mac's system audio — not the mic — to small, good-quality AAC files, as a window or menu-bar app.

⬇︎ Download for macOS  ·  macOS 13+  ·  Apple Silicon

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Features

• 🎧 Records system audio, not the microphone — captures whatever your Mac is playing (browser, music, apps).
• 🪶 Small files, good quality — AAC in .m4a (Small / Balanced / High presets; ~1 MB per minute).
• 🖥️ Window or menu bar — runs as a normal app window and an optional menu-bar icon; toggle either in Settings.
• ⚙️ Simple settings — pick quality, save folder, and how the app appears.
• 🔒 No extra drivers — uses Apple's ScreenCaptureKit; no BlackHole/Soundflower needed.

First launch (opening an unsigned app)

RecordAudio isn't signed with an Apple Developer ID, so macOS blocks it the first time. Any one of these works — you only need to do it once:

1. Right-click to open — in Finder, Control-click (right-click) RecordAudio.app → Open, then Open again in the dialog.
2. Privacy & Security — if it's still blocked on newer macOS, open System Settings → Privacy & Security, scroll down, and click Open Anyway next to the RecordAudio message, then confirm with Open.
3. Terminal — or clear the quarantine flag:

   /usr/bin/xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine /Applications/RecordAudio.app

On your first Record, macOS also asks for Screen Recording permission — that's the only channel macOS provides for capturing system audio. Enable RecordAudio under System Settings → Privacy & Security → Screen Recording.

Build from source

./Icon/build_icon.sh   # (re)generate the app icon (optional)
./build.sh             # compile a signed RecordAudio.app into ./build
open build/RecordAudio.app

Requires macOS 13+ and the Swift toolchain (Xcode or Command Line Tools). See the source in Sources/.

License

MIT © 2026 Alyetama