Discord screen share has no audio on a Mac?

Why your stream has no sound

A screen share in Discord sends a picture first. On a Mac, the sound is an extra with conditions: the Discord desktop app sends the sound of the app you share, and only on macOS 13 or later. Share something it can’t take sound from, and the stream is silent.

Even then, Mac users report it as hit and miss: the sound option is missing for some, and for others the stream stays silent with certain apps. And when it does work, only people who open your stream hear it. Everyone else in the voice channel hears only your microphone.

Fixes to try in Discord and macOS

1. Update Discord and macOS. Discord shares sound on macOS 13 or later, from its desktop app. Install any Discord update, and check your Mac in System Settings › General › Software Update.
2. Allow Discord to record sound. Open System Settings › Privacy & Security › Screen & System Audio Recording and make sure Discord is turned on. If it is and sound still fails, remove it with the minus button and allow it again next time you stream.
3. Share the app’s window, not your screen. Discord’s Mac sound sharing is built around apps. Stop the stream, start it again, and pick the window of the app that plays the sound.
4. Restart Discord, then your Mac. Quit Discord fully and open it again, then start a new stream. If that doesn’t bring the sound back, restart your Mac.

Also check the obvious: that the video isn’t muted in its own player or tab, and that it’s playing after the stream starts. Zoom, Teams, Meet or Slack silent too? See no sound when screen sharing.

Send a browser tab’s sound instead

If what you want the channel to hear is in a browser (a YouTube video, a clip, a web radio station), there’s no need for the stream’s sound at all. Send the tab into your microphone, and Discord treats it as part of your voice.

Patch for Chrome, a free extension for Chrome, Edge and Arc, hands one tab’s sound to Patch, which we make. Patch puts it in a virtual mic called Patch Mix, next to your voice.

1. In Patch, add a Chrome tab: the add-source list has “Add a Chrome tab”.
2. Add Patch for Chrome from the Chrome Web Store. Chrome asks once about your microphone; that only lets Patch for Chrome find the Patch speaker. It never listens.
3. Pin it: click the puzzle piece, then the pin.
4. On the tab you want the channel to hear, click Patch in the toolbar, then Send this tab.
5. In Discord, open User Settings, then Voice & Video. Choose Patch Mix as the Input Device and your headphones as the Output Device.
6. Click Go live in Patch. Everyone in the voice channel hears your voice and the tab together.

Now the whole voice channel hears the tab, whether anyone watches your stream or not, and you can keep streaming for the picture. The tab goes quiet in the browser and you hear it through Patch, at the level the channel gets. Only that tab goes, so no notification sounds slip in. Click Stop when you’re done, or click Patch on another tab to switch.

Discord’s voice filters are made for speech and can chop up music in your mic. Our play music on Discord guide has the settings to change.

Send any app’s sound

The same works for sound that isn’t in a browser: a game, Spotify, a video player, Safari. Add the app to Patch as a source, turn on Send, and set its fader under your voice. With Patch Mix as your Input Device, click Go live in Patch, and the channel hears it through your mic, with no stream needed.

Patch needs a Mac with Apple silicon and macOS 26 or later. Each source has its own fader and Hear locally switch, and a limiter on the mix keeps a loud moment from clipping. Wear headphones, and choose them as Discord’s Output Device, so your real mic doesn’t pick the sound up a second time.

Questions