Per-app capture
Pick one or more running apps and record only their output. Helper processes from multi-process apps such as browsers are rolled up under their host app automatically — no audio engineering knowledge required.
Free download · macOS 14.2 or later
Record only the app you want to hear
AuralTap takes a running app's audio straight out, using what macOS already provides: browsers, meeting apps and music apps each land in their own track, while system sounds and everything else stay out.
No drivers
No kernel extensions, no virtual sound cards.
Zero uploads
Recordings go only to the folder you choose — no server involved.
Lossless WAV
48 kHz stereo, ready to drop into any audio editor.
Per-app isolation
Captures just the target app's audio. Nothing else leaks in.
Why capturing audio on a Mac is harder than it should be
macOS' built-in screen recording mixes every sound on your desktop into one track. The usual workaround is a virtual sound card, but that means building a multi-output device in Audio MIDI Setup, installing drivers for other apps, and one wrong click silences your system audio entirely.
AuralTap takes a different route: it subscribes directly to that one app's audio output. What you hear and what you record are fully decoupled — while recording a meeting, you keep listening to it on your speakers; while recording music, background videos keep playing.
- No re-routing: your system output device stays untouched, and you keep listening while you record.
- No admin rights, no restart, no terminal.
- Authorize once, then every session is just: pick an app, hit record.
Core capabilities
Every one of them serves a single goal: get the audio out, cleanly.
System-wide capture
Select nothing and record everything playing through your output device — the same stream macOS screen recording uses. Ideal for one-off, unreproducible sounds.
Optional microphone
Remote meeting and you want your own voice on file? Mix the mic into the same track, or keep it as its own track. The mic is off by default.
Combined or per-track files
Recording several apps at once? Mix them into a single WAV, or give every app its own WAV that starts and stops independently.
Lossless 48 kHz WAV
Output is uncompressed original data: 48 kHz, stereo, 16-bit. No audio editor is picky about it — the file opens as-is.
Privacy first
App Sandbox enabled, no third-party SDKs, no accounts. Recordings land straight in a local file — nothing in between.
Three steps, done
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Pick a source
Choose an app from the list, or tick "whole system". Apps currently making sound show a green dot.
-
Add the mic (optional)
Tick the microphone if you want your own voice in the recording; leave it off to capture the target only.
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Hit record
The level meters moving means it's recording. Hit stop, and the file lands in the folder you set.
The first time you hit record, macOS asks for one-time permission (system audio / microphone). After that it never asks again.
How it compares to virtual sound cards
Same "internal recording" goal, very different day-to-day.
| AuralTap | Virtual sound card setups | |
|---|---|---|
| Driver install needed | No | Kernel extension or virtual device required |
| System output re-routing | Not needed | Multi-output device required, fragile |
| System audio while recording | Keeps playing normally | Silenced when misconfigured |
| Per-app isolation | Native | Not possible — mixing only |
| Per-track files | One WAV per app | Usually a single mixed track |
| Where data goes | Stays local | Depends on the tool |
What people record with it
- Archive a meeting replay as its own track
- Turn online courses and public lectures into offline audio
- Podcast interviews: local voice and remote guest on separate tracks
- Render a half-finished mix end to end
- Raw audio material before editing, for content creators
- Keep audio evidence of what an app played during QA
Keep the audio, keep it clean
Free to download — your first recording is two steps away.
Download on the Mac App StoremacOS 14.2 or later · Free download