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Fix · Zoom · Teams · Meet · Mac

No sound when you share your screen on a Mac?

Sharing your screen doesn’t share its sound. Stop sharing, turn on the app’s sound switch (Share Sound in Zoom, Include sound in Teams, Also share system audio in Meet), allow the app under Screen & System Audio Recording, and replay the video. Or skip the share: Patch, which we make, mixes the sound into your microphone.

The quick fix

  • Sharing your screen doesn’t share its sound. Each app has a switch for that, and it’s off unless you turn it on.
  • Your Mac must also allow the app under Screen & System Audio Recording, in Privacy & Security.
  • Still silent? Stop sharing, turn the switch on, share again, and restart the video.

The three-step fix

  1. Stop sharing. Stop the share you’re in. The sound setting is chosen when you start sharing, so it can’t be fixed halfway.
  2. Turn on the app’s sound switch. Share again and, before you pick the window, turn on the sound option: Share Sound in Zoom, Include sound in Teams, Also share system audio in Meet, Share system audio in Slack.
  3. Play the video again. Start the share, then pause the video and play it again, so the app picks up its sound.

The sound switch in each app

  • Zoom: Click Share Screen and tick Share Sound before you click Share. Choose Stereo (high fidelity) for music. To send sound with no screen, use Advanced › Computer Audio. Full Zoom guide.
  • Microsoft Teams: Click Share and turn on Include sound. On a Mac, Teams needs its own audio driver for this; install it when Teams offers, and restart your Mac. Full Teams guide.
  • Google Meet: Share a Chrome tab and its sound comes with it. For a window or your whole screen, turn on Also share system audio, which Google says needs Chrome 142 or later on macOS 14.2 or later. Full Meet guide.
  • Slack huddles: Click the share screen button and turn on Share system audio. It’s only in the Slack desktop app. Full Slack guide.
  • Discord: The desktop app shares an app’s sound with a screen share on macOS 13 or later, but on a Mac the option can be missing, or silent for some apps. People in the voice channel hear it only while they watch your stream. Full Discord guide.

Using Webex, FaceTime, WhatsApp, GoTo Meeting or Jitsi Meet? See what every call app can do with sound, with each switch name and the app’s own help page.

Check the Mac permission

Your Mac only lets an app capture your screen and its sound once you’ve said yes. If you said no, or the permission got stuck, the share may show the picture and send no sound.

  1. Open System Settings › Privacy & Security.
  2. Click Screen & System Audio Recording.
  3. Turn on Zoom, Teams, Slack, or the browser you use for Meet.
  4. Quit and reopen the app when your Mac asks.

If the app is already on and it keeps asking again, select it, remove it with the minus button, and allow it fresh next time you share.

Still no sound?

  • Check the video’s own volume. Zoom says shared sound follows the playing app’s volume, so a muted tab or player sends silence.
  • Wear headphones. If your speakers play the call, your mic hears it and people get an echo.
  • Update the app and macOS. Zoom’s own troubleshooting starts here, and suggests reinstalling if sound still won’t share.
  • Check Mic Mode. If Control Center shows Mic Mode in a call, choose Standard. Voice Isolation removes music that reaches the call through your mic.

Skip the share: put the sound in your mic

A share sends your whole Mac’s sound, only while you share, and you can’t set it under your voice. The other way is to mix the video or music into your microphone, so the call hears it as part of you.

Patch, which we make, does this on a Mac with Apple silicon and macOS 26 or later. Add your mic and the app that plays the sound, choose Patch Mix as your microphone in the call, and turn the call’s noise suppression off. It works in every call app, with no share at all. The details are in play music through your mic.

Send just one browser tab

Is the silent video in a browser tab? Patch for Chrome, our free extension for Chrome, Edge and Arc, sends that one tab into Patch, which mixes it into your microphone. There’s no share to start and no sound switch to forget, and the call hears the tab, not your notifications.

  1. In Patch, add a Chrome tab, then add Patch for Chrome from the Chrome Web Store.
  2. On the video’s tab, click Patch in the toolbar, then Send this tab.
  3. In the call app, choose Patch Mix as the microphone and your headphones as the speaker.
  4. Click Go live in Patch. The call hears the video with your voice.

It works the same in Zoom, Teams, Meet, Webex and Slack. The steps are in share tab audio in any call, and for a YouTube video on Zoom, in play YouTube on Zoom.

Is there other software that fixes this?

Any app that gives your call a virtual microphone sidesteps the share-sound switch, because the sound arrives as part of your mic. On a Mac, three are common:

  • BlackHole: a free, open-source driver with no mixer. To have your voice in the call too, you build an Aggregate Device in Audio MIDI Setup, or put a mixer app in between.
  • Loopback: Rogue Amoeba’s full-featured router, for any apps and devices, with a level for each.
  • Patch: your mic and the apps you add, mixed into Patch Mix with a level for each. It needs a Mac with Apple silicon on macOS 26 or later.

Side by side, with prices: Loopback alternatives for Mac.

Questions

Why can’t people hear my video when I share my screen?

Because a screen share sends the picture, and the sound is a separate switch you turn on when you start sharing. Stop sharing, turn on the app’s share-sound option, share again and replay the video. On a Mac, the app also needs Screen & System Audio Recording permission.

Where is Screen & System Audio Recording on a Mac?

System Settings › Privacy & Security › Screen & System Audio Recording. Make sure Zoom, Teams, Slack or your browser is turned on there. If it’s already on and nothing works, remove it with the minus button and allow it again when the app asks.

Why does the video sound choppy or keep cutting out?

The call app’s noise suppression may be treating it as noise, especially if the sound is reaching the call through your microphone. Turn it off or down: in Zoom choose Original sound for musicians, in Teams set Noise suppression to Low or off, and in Slack untick Enable noise suppression.

People hear an echo when I share sound. Why?

Usually your speakers are playing the call and your mic is hearing them. Wear headphones. In Zoom, an echo also happens if you joined the same meeting from your phone as well. Google suggests setting Meet’s speaker to your Mac’s default output.

There’s no share-sound toggle. Where is it?

It appears only when you start a share, and it isn’t always there. In Zoom, Share Sound is a tick box at the bottom of the Share Screen window. In Teams, Include sound needs Teams’ audio driver on a Mac; Teams offers to install it, and you may need to restart. In Google Meet, tab audio comes only when you present a Chrome tab, and Also share system audio needs Chrome 142 or later on macOS 14.2 or later, so Safari and Firefox show no switch. Discord shares app sound with a screen share on macOS 13 or later, but on a Mac the option can be missing for some apps.

Can I share just the sound, without my screen?

In Zoom and Webex, yes: Computer Audio, under Share Screen › Advanced in Zoom and Share content › Advanced in Webex. Teams, Meet, Slack and Discord tie sound to a screen share. To send an app’s sound with no share at all, mix it into your microphone with a virtual mic such as Patch. For a video in Chrome, Edge or Arc, Patch for Chrome sends just that tab.