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Guide · Google Meet · Mac

How to play music on Google Meet on a Mac

Meet can send a tab’s sound, and on a recent setup your Mac’s sound, while you present. If you want the music without presenting, or at a level under your voice, you need it in your microphone instead. Here are all three ways.

The short version

  • Presenting a Chrome tab with “Also share tab audio” is the quickest way, for music playing in that tab.
  • For Spotify, Music or any other app, recent Chrome on a recent macOS can share system audio when you present a window or screen.
  • To play music without presenting, at a level under your voice, mix it into a virtual microphone.

Option 1: present a tab with its audio

If the music or video is playing in a Chrome tab, this is the quickest way.

  1. Open the music or video in a Chrome tab.
  2. In the Meet call, click Share screen, then choose the tab.
  3. Keep “Also share tab audio” on, and click Share.

Everyone sees the tab and hears its sound. Only that tab is shared, so Spotify’s app, Music or a video player won’t be heard, and the sound stops when you stop presenting.

Option 2: present a window with system audio

With Chrome 142 or later on macOS 14.2 or later, presenting a window or your entire screen can include your Mac’s sound. The option is off by default: turn on “Also share system audio” when you choose what to share. That covers Spotify, Music and other apps.

It shares all of your Mac’s sound, including notifications, and it still needs you to present. On an older Chrome or macOS, the option isn’t there.

Option 3: mix it into your microphone

Meet listens to one microphone. A virtual microphone mixes your real mic with the apps you choose and gives Meet the result, so the call hears your voice and the music together, at levels you set, whether or not you present.

Patch, which we make, does this on a Mac. It mixes your mic and up to four apps into a virtual mic called Patch Mix.

  1. Add your microphone and the music app to Patch. Install Patch, add your microphone as a source, then add the app that plays the music: Spotify, Music, Safari or any other Mac app except Chrome.
  2. Send both, and set the level. Turn on Send for your microphone and the music, and pull the music’s fader well under your voice.
  3. Choose Patch Mix in Meet. In the call, open More options, then Settings, then Audio. Under Microphone, choose Patch Mix, and under Speakers, choose your headphones.
  4. Turn off noise cancellation. If Meet’s Audio settings show Noise cancellation, turn it off, or Meet removes the music as background noise.
  5. Go live. Click Go live in Patch. Meet hears your voice and the music together, whether or not you present.

Play the music outside Chrome. Chrome is running the call, so Patch can’t capture Chrome without sending the call back to itself. Use Safari, another browser, or the music app. Always choose your headphones as Meet’s speaker, never Patch Pass-Thru.

The same mic works in Zoom, Discord and OBS; see play music through your mic for each app’s settings.

Stop Meet filtering the music

Meet’s Noise cancellation removes sounds that aren’t speech, and Google’s own help says to turn it off if you need music in the meeting. Open More options, then Settings, then Audio, and turn Noise cancellation off. It’s on by default for many paid Workspace and Google One accounts; free personal accounts don’t have it. Keep headphones on, so your real microphone doesn’t pick the music up a second time.

Questions

Can I play music on Google Meet without presenting?

Not with Meet alone: its sound sharing is part of presenting. To play music without presenting, mix it into your microphone with a virtual mic such as Patch, and choose that mic in Meet.

Why can’t I play the music in Chrome too?

Patch captures whole apps. If Chrome is running the call and playing the music, capturing Chrome would send the call back into itself. Play the music in Safari, another browser or a music app instead.

Why does the music sound choppy or cut out?

Meet is treating it as noise. Turn off Noise cancellation in Meet’s Audio settings if your account has it, and wear headphones so your mic doesn’t pick the music up twice.

Can I play Spotify on Google Meet?

Yes. Either present your Spotify window with system audio, if your Chrome and macOS support it, or add Spotify to Patch and choose Patch Mix as your microphone in Meet.

Does this work in Safari?

Choosing Patch Mix as your microphone works in any browser that lets Meet pick a microphone. Google documents Meet’s tab and system audio sharing for Chrome.