How to Record a Zoom Meeting on a Mac (With Audio)

There are three real ways to do this on macOS. Two of them quietly drop the other person’s audio. Here’s what actually works — and how to capture both sides without a bot or begging the host for record permission.

The short answer

To record a Zoom call with everyone’s audio on a Mac, you need something that captures your microphone and your Mac’s system audio at the same time. Zoom’s own recorder does this but needs host permission and saves to Zoom’s cloud on paid plans. macOS’s built-in ⌘⇧5 screen recorder captures only your microphone on macOS 15 and 26 — a trap most people only notice after the meeting — and on macOS 27 it can add system audio, but as a screen video with no transcript. The reliable path is a local recorder that grabs both tracks: MeetingRecorder is a free menu-bar app for Mac that records your mic and Zoom’s audio together, with no bot and no host permission, and saves an audio file on your Mac.

Consent first. Recording laws vary by country and state, and many are “all-party consent.” Tell participants you’re recording and get their OK. No bot appears in the call with a local recorder, which makes disclosure your job — not the tool’s.

Option 1 — Zoom’s built-in recording

If you’re the host (or the host grants it), click Record in the Zoom toolbar. “Record to this computer” saves a local MP4; “Record to the cloud” needs a paid plan.

Good: captures all participants’ audio cleanly, no setup.
Annoying: you must be host or ask for permission, everyone sees the recording indicator, and cloud recordings live on Zoom’s servers.
Doesn’t help when you’re a guest in someone else’s meeting.

Option 2 — macOS screen recording (⌘⇧5)

Press ⌘⇧5, choose to record the screen, and hit record. On macOS 15 and 26 this is where people get burned: the built-in tool records your microphone but not the audio coming from Zoom, so you end up with a video where you can hear yourself and no one else. Getting the other side in meant installing a virtual audio driver and routing outputs by hand.

macOS 27 fixes the silence: open Options in the ⌘⇧5 toolbar and turn on Include System Audio. What you get is a screen video rather than an audio file — large, with no transcript or summary — and you have to remember the option before the call starts. More on this in recording system audio on macOS.

Option 3 — a local meeting recorder (both sides, no bot)

This is the approach that just works as a guest: a menu-bar app records your mic and the meeting’s system audio together, saves to a folder on your Mac, and — because nothing joins the call — there’s no bot in the participant list.

With MeetingRecorder the flow is:

Start the recording from the menu bar, or accept the toast that appears when the Zoom call begins.
It captures both sides of the call — your mic and the meeting’s system audio — as one mix, or separate tracks.
When the call ends, one click gives you a transcript and a short summary with action items.

Everything stays local unless you choose to transcribe, and there’s no account to set up. If you want to weigh the local-recorder options side by side, see our roundup of bot-free meeting recorders for Mac.

Rule of thumb: if you need the _other person’s_ voice and you’re not the host, use a local recorder that captures system audio. It doesn’t depend on Zoom’s permissions, and it leaves you with an audio file and a transcript instead of a screen video.

Which should you use?

You host regularly and don’t mind the cloud: Zoom’s built-in recorder is fine.
You want a quick screen video: ⌘⇧5 is enough (turn on Include System Audio on macOS 27 to hear the other side).
You’re a guest, or you want both sides kept locally with a transcript: a local meeting recorder.

How to record a Zoom meeting on a Mac (with audio)

The short answer

Option 1 — Zoom’s built-in recording

Option 2 — macOS screen recording (⌘⇧5)

Option 3 — a local meeting recorder (both sides, no bot)

Which should you use?

Record your next call in one click.