Yes, you can record your screen with your computer or phone’s internal audio, and the exact method depends on your platform. On Windows, use Xbox Game Bar. On macOS, pick an app built on ScreenCaptureKit or fall back to a virtual audio driver. On Android, turn on Device audio in the Quick Settings screen recorder. On iOS, use Control Center’s local capture. In a browser, the MediaRecorder API handles it. If sound is missing, check permissions, force stop the app, clear the cache, or reboot before trying anything more complicated.

TL;DR:

• Windows Game Bar saves MP4 clips in VideosCaptures, while macOS apps need ScreenCaptureKit support or a virtual audio driver for system sound.
• Android lets you choose Device audio alone or combine it with the microphone, but some third party recorders block DRM protected content.
• On iPhone, Control Center records your voice when its microphone is enabled, while Local Capture depends on app permissions and some protected audio remains unavailable.
• Browser capture requires fresh permission prompts and generally cannot record a page’s internal system audio, so use it for tab media or request uploaded recordings.
• For recurring team recordings, keep microphone and system sound on separate tracks, and remove passwords or personal details before sharing clips.

Table of Contents

• Record system audio on Windows with Xbox Game Bar
• macOS: ScreenCaptureKit versus a virtual audio driver
• Android: enable Device audio in the Quick Settings recorder
• iOS: Control Center recording and its microphone limits
• Capturing screen and audio in a web browser
• Troubleshooting checklist when system audio is missing
• Best practices for clean, usable recordings
• When ad-hoc recording stops being enough for QA teams
• Editor’s take: quick capture versus team-grade capture
• A structured alternative for teams tracking many bugs
• FAQ
• Sources

Record system audio on Windows with Xbox Game Bar

Windows 10 and 11 both include Xbox Game Bar, a free tool that can grab your screen and whatever is playing through your speakers at the same time. Microsoft’s own support documentation confirms that recordings save as MP4 files in your VideosCaptures folder, each named with the app, date, and time.

To turn it on:

• Press Windows + G to open Game Bar, then go to Settings → Capturing and set audio capture to include system sound.
• Press Windows + Alt + R to start or stop a recording.
• Press Windows + Alt + M to toggle your microphone on or off mid-recording.

If Game Bar refuses to pick up system audio, check that the app you’re recording has permission to run in the background, or try a dedicated recorder instead. For projects that need separate microphone and system tracks, a virtual audio device gives you more control than Game Bar’s single mixed-down file.

macOS: ScreenCaptureKit versus a virtual audio driver

Apple’s modern approach to screen recording with sound runs through ScreenCaptureKit, available since macOS 13. Apps built on this framework can capture system audio directly, as long as you grant screen-recording permission when prompted. A working example is documented in this ScreenCaptureKit sample project, which shows system audio captured alongside video frames without installing any extra drivers.

Older Macs or apps that haven’t adopted ScreenCaptureKit need a workaround:

• Install a virtual audio driver such as BlackHole or Loopback.
• Create an aggregate device in Audio MIDI Setup that combines your speakers and the virtual driver.
• Route your system output through that aggregate device, then record as usual.

The trade-off is setup time, extra security prompts, and a temporary change to how your Mac routes audio locally. QuickTime Player, by contrast, only records your microphone during screen capture, never system sound, so check whether your chosen app lists ScreenCaptureKit support before assuming it can do more.

Pro Tip: Before buying a dedicated recording app, search its release notes or support page for “ScreenCaptureKit.” If it’s not mentioned, assume you’ll need a virtual driver for system audio.

Android: enable Device audio in the Quick Settings recorder

Android’s built-in screen recorder lives in Quick Settings, and Google’s own help documentation walks through the exact sequence.

1. Swipe down twice to open Quick Settings and tap Screen record.
2. Choose whether to record audio, then select Device audio to capture system sound, or Device audio and microphone to add your voice.
3. Tap Start; recording begins after a short countdown and stops from the notification shade.

Audio sometimes goes missing after an app update, a problem detailed in an Android support thread from several Android users. The thread’s recommended fixes, in order of effort, are: clear the system recorder’s cache, force stop the app you’re trying to record, double-check the Screen record tile’s audio setting, and reboot the device if an audio session seems stuck. Not every third-party recorder can capture device audio either, since some apps are blocked from recording DRM-protected content like streaming video.

iOS: Control Center recording and its microphone limits

Apple’s Control Center screen recording captures your display and, if you turn on the microphone toggle, your voice as well. Some apps also support what Apple calls Local Capture, which records higher-quality local audio during a call or session.

• Open Control Center, long-press the Screen Recording button, and confirm the microphone is on or off before tapping Start Recording.
• Local Capture, where available, uses the app’s own audio permissions and behaves differently from the system microphone toggle.
• According to Apple’s support page, features like Voice Isolation do not apply to Local Capture, and some call or DRM-protected audio simply cannot be captured.

If your recording ends up with unwanted background noise or a muffled voice track, it’s often faster to re-record the narration separately and sync it in editing than to try to clean up a single mixed file.

Capturing screen and audio in a web browser

Browsers can record both your screen and audio without any extra software, using the MediaStream Recording API documented by MDN.

• Call getDisplayMedia() for the screen stream and getUserMedia() for a microphone, then pass both into a MediaRecorder instance.
• Listen for dataavailable events to collect encoded chunks, then combine them into a Blob and save it as a file.
• Use enumerateDevices() to let users pick a specific microphone, and expect a permission prompt every time, since browsers restrict silent audio access for security reasons.

Browser-based capture generally cannot grab a page’s internal system audio directly due to browser security limits, so for anything beyond a single tab’s own media stream, ask contributors to upload a pre-recorded file instead.

Troubleshooting checklist when system audio is missing

Run through these steps in order before assuming your hardware is broken:

1. Confirm the recorder’s audio toggle is actually set to “system” or “device audio,” not just microphone.
2. Play something to verify your system output is audible and not muted.
3. Force stop the target app and relaunch it, a fix Android’s own troubleshooting thread lists as effective when an audio session gets stuck after an update.
4. Clear the recorder app’s cache and check for a pending OS update.
5. Reboot the device if none of the above resolves it.
6. On macOS, fall back to a virtual audio device or aggregate device if your recording app lacks ScreenCaptureKit support.

Pro Tip: Force stopping the app you’re recording clears stuck audio hooks faster than a full reboot in most Android cases.

Best practices for clean, usable recordings

Recording system audio and microphone audio onto separate tracks makes editing dramatically easier, since you can adjust or mute one without touching the other. This is achievable through virtual audio devices on macOS, multi-track recorders, or an app’s built-in option to split sources, as outlined in guidance on recorders built for separate audio tracks.

• Normalize volume levels between your voice and system sound so one doesn’t drown out the other.
• Apply light noise reduction if your microphone picked up fan noise or room echo.
• Export an audio-only MP3 or WAV file when a developer or teammate only needs to hear a bug, not watch the video.
• Review the recording for sensitive data, passwords, or personal information before sharing it anywhere.

A quick OS recording is fine for a one-off clip. Once you’re producing several recordings a week for a team, the extra setup for separate tracks starts to pay for itself.

When ad-hoc recording stops being enough for QA teams

A screen recording with system audio captures timing and sound cues that make a bug far easier to reproduce, a click, an error chime, a dropped connection sound. That’s valuable for a single bug report. For a team logging dozens of issues a week, though, screen recordings that developers can act on need more structure: real-time transcription of what the tester says, automatic flags for duplicate reports, and a direct path into a backlog. Before sharing any recording outside your team, redact sensitive data by design rather than after the fact.

Editor’s take: quick capture versus team-grade capture

A single Xbox Game Bar clip is perfectly fine for showing a friend a glitch. The calculation changes the moment five testers are sending you silent, mislabeled recordings of the same bug. At that point, the fix isn’t a better microphone, it’s a workflow that separates tracks and timestamps automatically. Either way, scrub anything sensitive before you hit send.

— Marketing

A structured alternative for teams tracking many bugs

Operating system recorders are the right call for a one-off capture: quick, free, no setup. Once a team is logging dozens of bugs a week, though, mixed-up audio tracks and unlabeled files start costing more time than they save. We built Wezard’s UAT testing platform around that exact gap: screen recording, real-time transcription, and AI-powered duplicate detection before a ticket ever reaches your backlog.

• We route recordings and transcripts straight into backlog tools, so testers stop copy-pasting reproduction steps by hand.
• We flag likely duplicate tickets automatically, cutting the manual triage that piles up after a big test cycle.
• For teams weighing options beyond spreadsheets or basic screen recorders, our pricing page lists the Starter, Team, Business, and Enterprise plans.

This isn’t a replacement for Game Bar or Quick Settings when you need a single quick clip. It’s an option worth a look once your team’s bug queue has outgrown ad-hoc recordings.

FAQ

How do I record my phone screen with audio?

On Android, open Quick Settings, tap Screen record, choose Device audio, and tap Start, as described in Google’s official steps. On iPhone, open Control Center, long-press Screen Recording, confirm the microphone toggle, and tap to start.

Does Windows 10 have a built-in screen recorder?

Yes, Windows 10 and 11 both include Xbox Game Bar, which can capture your screen along with system audio when Capturing settings are configured to include it. Recordings save automatically as MP4 files in your VideosCaptures folder.

Can I screen record a FaceTime call?

You can use iOS Control Center to record a FaceTime call, and some apps support Local Capture for higher-quality local audio during the session. Apple notes that certain microphone features like Voice Isolation do not apply to Local Capture, so test a short clip first.

How do I audio record on iPhone during a screen recording?

Long-press the Screen Recording button in Control Center before you start, then make sure the microphone icon is turned on. If the app you’re using supports Local Capture, that feature records separately from the system microphone and may produce cleaner audio.

Why is my screen recording silent?

The most common causes are an audio toggle left on microphone-only instead of system or device audio, a stuck audio session after an app update, or a permissions issue. Clearing the recorder’s cache, force stopping the target app, or rebooting the device resolves most cases, based on fixes documented in Android’s own troubleshooting thread.

Sources

• Use a screen reader to record your screen with Xbox Game Bar | Microsoft Support
• Using the MediaStream Recording API – MDN Web Docs
• macos-screen-recorder (sck-record) — GitHub
• Take a screenshot or record your screen – Android Help

Recommended

• Document Software Issues With Screen Recording That Devs Fix Fast
• Visual Feedback Tool for QA Teams: UAT Trial Guide
• Voice Bug Reporting for Devs and QA: A Practical Guide
• How to Automate Ticket Creation from Screen Recordings