How to Record Your Screen Without Recording the Microphone
Sometimes you want a screen recording with system sounds intact, a demo, a game clip, a tutorial with background music, but no microphone audio picked up at all, whether that's to avoid capturing background noise or because you'll add narration separately later. Here's how to turn off microphone recording specifically, without losing the rest of your audio, across the main free tools.
How Do You Record Your Screen Without the Microphone?
In every tool covered here, system audio and microphone audio are separate settings, so you mute the microphone specifically while leaving system audio (or nothing at all) active. In Xbox Game Bar, click the microphone icon to mute it before recording. In OBS, mute the Mic/Aux source in the Audio Mixer.
This distinction, system audio versus microphone audio, is the single most important thing to understand here. Recording "with no audio" and recording "with system sound but no mic" are different settings in nearly every tool, and mixing them up is the most common mistake.
One Click to Mute
- Press Win+G to open Xbox Game Bar.
- Open the Capture widget, where you'll see a microphone icon.
- Click the microphone icon so it shows as muted (usually indicated with a line through it or a color change).
- Start recording as usual with the record button or Win+Alt+R.
According to Microsoft's own support documentation, Game Bar records system audio by default alongside the microphone, so muting just the mic icon leaves game or app sounds intact in your recording while excluding your voice or background noise entirely.
Separate Audio Sources You Control Directly
OBS Studio treats audio as separate sources you can mute, adjust or remove independently, which gives more precise control than Game Bar.
- Open OBS Studio and look at the Audio Mixer panel, usually at the bottom of the main window.
- Find the "Mic/Aux" source in the list.
- Click its speaker icon to mute it, or right-click and remove it from your scene entirely if you never want it recorded.
- Leave "Desktop Audio" active if you want to keep system sounds.
- Start recording, and check the mixer's level meters to confirm the mic is genuinely silent and desktop audio is still moving.
This separation is useful beyond just avoiding your voice: it also means you can add narration in post-production later using a separate audio track, without your live environment's ambient noise baked permanently into the recording.
Explicit Toggles for Each Audio Source
ShareX includes separate settings for system sound and microphone specifically for screen recordings.
- Open ShareX's screen recording options (usually accessible from its task settings or the recording toolbar).
- Find the audio source settings, which list system sound and microphone as separate toggles.
- Turn off the microphone toggle while leaving system sound on, if that's what you want.
- Start your recording as normal.
Because ShareX is built around quick captures and tutorials, this separation is meant to make it easy to record a screen demo with background music or app sounds but without your voice or room noise mixed in.
No Microphone Selected
- Open QuickTime Player and choose File > New Screen Recording.
- Click the small arrow next to the record button to open audio options.
- Make sure no microphone is selected in that menu (choose "None" if that option is available).
- Click Start Recording, then click inside the screen or window you want to capture.
According to Apple's own support documentation, this setup records your screen with system audio only, and if you also want no audio at all, muting your Mac's system volume before recording achieves that.
A Simpler Case
If you want neither system audio nor microphone audio, the setup is simpler: mute both sources (or your entire system volume) before recording in whichever tool you're using. This is common for silent tutorials where you'll add narration or captions entirely separately afterward.
When the Microphone Still Gets Picked Up
- Check your operating system's sound settings, not just the app. Some tools default to whatever input device Windows or macOS has selected system-wide, so confirm the correct device is chosen at the OS level too.
- Test with a short recording first. Before recording something that matters, do a five-second test and play it back to confirm the microphone is genuinely silent.
- Watch for a second microphone source. If you have both a built-in laptop mic and an external one connected, muting the wrong one in the app leaves the other active.
- Restart the recording app after changing settings. In rare cases, audio device changes don't take effect until you close and reopen the tool.
Adding Narration Separately
If your plan is to record clean system audio now and add your own narration in post-production, our comparison of free video editors for Windows covers tools that support layering a separate audio track over your existing recording. And if you do end up with some background noise you want to reduce in a voice track you recorded separately, removing background noise from a recording covers that specific problem.
Matching the Setup to the Reason
Different reasons for excluding the microphone call for slightly different setups, worth being deliberate about rather than just muting everything by default.
Recording a tutorial you'll narrate later. Keep system audio on if your software makes sounds worth hearing (a notification chime, a game's audio cues), but mute the mic so your live environment, a barking dog, a passing car, doesn't get baked permanently into the video before you've even added your planned narration.
Recording gameplay to share online. Most people want both game audio and voice commentary together, so this is actually the case where you'd leave the microphone on rather than off; it's worth double-checking your specific goal before assuming muting the mic is what you want.
Capturing a bug or demo for a colleague. Here, muting the microphone entirely and keeping system audio is usually right, so the recipient sees exactly what happened on screen with the app's own sounds, without capturing whatever was happening in your room at the time.
Recording something to send with a separate voice message. In this case, muting both system audio and the microphone, recording silent video only, keeps the file focused purely on the visual demonstration, since you'll narrate over it separately in a message or call.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I record my screen with no microphone audio on Windows?
In Xbox Game Bar's Capture widget, click the microphone icon so it shows as muted before you start recording; this keeps system audio (game sounds, music, video playback) while excluding your microphone entirely.
Can OBS Studio record system audio without the microphone?
Yes, in OBS's Audio Mixer panel, mute or remove the Mic/Aux source while leaving Desktop Audio active, which records everything your computer plays without picking up your microphone at all.
Does ShareX let me choose which audio source to record?
Yes, ShareX's screen recording settings include separate toggles for system sound and microphone, so you can disable just the microphone while keeping system audio, or record with no audio at all.
How do I record silently on a Mac with QuickTime?
When starting a new screen recording in QuickTime, click the arrow next to the record button and make sure no microphone is selected under the audio options; this records video with system audio only, or with no audio if you also mute system sound.
Why is my microphone still being picked up even after I muted it in the app?
Check your operating system's own sound settings, not just the recording app's settings; some tools default to your system's selected input device, so muting the app's toggle without also confirming the correct device is chosen can leave the mic active by mistake.
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