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Guide · Zoom · Mac

How to play music on Zoom on a Mac

Zoom can send your Mac’s sound with a screen share, or on its own. If you want the music under your voice, at a level you set, without sharing anything, it has to go into your microphone. Here are all three ways, and the one setting that stops Zoom removing the music.

The short version

  • Zoom’s “Share sound” sends your Mac’s sound with a screen share. Computer Audio sends the sound without the screen.
  • Both send all of your Mac’s sound, as a share. To play music under your voice, with no share, mix it into your mic.
  • Either way, choose “Original sound for musicians” in Zoom’s audio settings, or Zoom removes the music as noise.

Option 1: share sound with your screen

  1. In the meeting, click Share Screen.
  2. Choose the window or screen to share.
  3. Tick “Share sound”. Its menu lets you pick Mono or Stereo (high fidelity); choose Stereo for music.
  4. Click Share.

Everyone sees your screen and hears your Mac’s sound: the music, and every notification too. The first time, Zoom asks to install its own audio device, ZoomAudioDevice, which it uses to capture the sound.

Option 2: share computer audio, without your screen

Click Share Screen, open the Advanced tab, choose Computer Audio, and click Share. The meeting hears your Mac’s sound with nothing on screen. Zoom documents it for its desktop app on Mac, Windows and Linux.

It still counts as a share, so it stops if someone else shares, and it sends everything your Mac plays. Zoom says to set the level in the app that’s playing, or with your Mac’s volume, so you can’t sit the music under your voice.

Option 3: mix it into your microphone

Zoom listens to one microphone. A virtual microphone mixes your real mic with the apps you choose and hands Zoom the result, so the meeting hears your voice and the music together, at levels you set, with no share and no other sounds.

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, with a limiter so a loud track doesn’t clip.

  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, a browser or a video player.
  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. Turn on Hear locally for the music so you hear it too.
  3. Choose Patch Mix in Zoom. Open Zoom’s Settings and choose Audio. Under Microphone, choose Patch Mix, turn off “Automatically adjust microphone volume”, and under Speaker, choose your headphones.
  4. Stop Zoom removing the music. Under Microphone modes, choose “Original sound for musicians”, which turns off Zoom’s noise suppression.
  5. Go live. Click Go live in Patch. The meeting hears your voice and the music together, with no share.

Always choose your headphones as Zoom’s speaker, never Patch Pass-Thru, or the meeting hears itself. The same mic works in Discord, Google Meet and OBS; see play music through your mic.

Zoom’s audio settings for music

Zoom’s audio is tuned for speech, and its noise suppression can cut music to pieces. Open Zoom’s Settings and choose Audio, or in a meeting click the arrow next to the Audio button, then Audio settings.

  • Microphone modes: choose “Original sound for musicians”. Zoom says this turns all noise suppression off. Under it, you can turn on High-fidelity music mode and Stereo audio, and turn Echo cancellation off if you wear headphones.
  • Background noise suppression: if you keep the default mode, set it to Low. Zoom says Low keeps as much of the original sound as possible for casual music.
  • Automatically adjust microphone volume: off, so Zoom doesn’t pump the level up and down.

Zoom renames these settings from time to time. If yours look different, look for the option that keeps the original sound. Teaching a class? See music for a Zoom fitness class.

Questions

Can I play music on Zoom without sharing my screen?

Yes, two ways. In Share Screen, the Advanced tab has Computer Audio, which shares your Mac’s sound with no screen. Or put the music in your microphone with a virtual mic such as Patch, so it isn’t a share at all.

Why does music sound choppy or cut out on Zoom?

Zoom’s noise suppression is treating it as background noise. In Settings › Audio, choose “Original sound for musicians” under Microphone modes; Zoom says that turns all noise suppression off. If you’d rather keep some, set Background noise suppression to Low.

How do I change the volume of shared sound?

Zoom says to set it in the app that’s playing, or with your Mac’s volume. With a virtual mic such as Patch, each app has its own fader, so you can set the music under your voice.

Can I play Spotify on Zoom?

Yes. Share sound or Computer Audio will send it, along with every other sound your Mac makes. To send only Spotify, at a level you choose, add it to Patch and choose Patch Mix as your microphone.

Why does Zoom ask to install an audio device?

On a Mac, Zoom shares sound through its own audio driver, ZoomAudioDevice. It asks to install it the first time you share sound. Patch doesn’t need it: it hands Zoom a microphone instead.