Guide

How to record audio from your browser on a Mac

A sound on a website, a clip in a web player, a browser instrument: record it as a WAV without a microphone and without routing.

By the KIBA team · Updated 30 September 2026

Short answer: play the sound in your browser, click KIBA's ring in the menu bar, click again to stop, trim, save. Before you start, pause every other tab that makes sound: recording "one app" means the whole browser, not one tab.

One app is not one tab

macOS lets apps record another app's sound, not a single tab's. If you choose Chrome in Record From, KIBA hears every Chrome tab, plus Chrome's own notification sounds. So:

Pause or close other tabs that play audio. In Chrome, right-click a tab › Mute site.
Turn on Do Not Disturb (Control Center › Focus) so a message sound doesn't land in the middle of your clip.
If you record All Mac Audio instead, mute other apps too (Music, Slack, games).

Step by step

Pick the source. By default KIBA records everything your Mac plays. To record one app only, right-click the ring in the menu bar › Record From and pick it.
Click the ring (or press ⌥⌘R anywhere) and play the sound. A timer runs next to the icon.
Click again to stop. The trimmer drops down with the silence at both ends already cut and the level set to peak at −0.3 dB.
Trim. Drag the edges, press Space to play, L to loop the selection. Pinch or scroll to zoom.
Keep it. Press Return to save it to your sample folder, or drag the waveform straight into another app or the Finder.

You get a WAV file (uncompressed audio that every editor opens): 48 kHz, 24-bit by default, named like KIBA_260930-141203.wav. 16-bit and 32-bit float are in Settings.

Worked example: a sound from a web page

Say a tutorial page plays a 4-second synth example you want to keep. Mute your other tabs, start KIBA, play the example once, stop KIBA. The trimmer opens with the silence before and after already cut. Press L to loop it and check the edges, nudge them if needed, press Return. It's in your sample folder as a WAV.

If KIBA records nothing

Permission: System Settings › Privacy & Security › Screen & System Audio Recording › turn KIBA on (on macOS 14.4 and later it's listed under System Audio Recording Only), then quit and reopen KIBA.
Wrong source: right-click the ring › Record From › All Mac Audio, and try again.
Protected streams: some services deliberately block capture of their playback. KIBA doesn't work around that.

Good to know: KIBA records what your Mac plays, in real time. A 30-second clip takes 30 seconds. It can't make audio better than the source: a WAV of a compressed stream still sounds like that stream. And it records sound only, never your microphone or your screen.

More: every way to record system audio on a Mac · YouTube audio to WAV.

Before you sample: only record what you have the right to use: your own music, royalty-free or Creative Commons material, or tracks you'll clear. Streaming services' terms don't allow ripping, and releasing a sample usually needs permission from both the recording owner and the publisher. There's no "two seconds is fine" rule. More on sample clearance.

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