Should I use BlackHole and Audacity or BrowserAudio on my Mac?

The working setup that inspired a simpler one

BrowserAudio began with a practical frustration. Recording browser audio through virtual routing and Audacity was possible, but setting up the route and recorder felt fiddly for a short clip. That experience led to a narrower goal: make it straightforward to record a chosen browser tab and save the useful parts.

BlackHole remains a useful tool for a different scope of task. It passes audio between Mac applications. A system-output route can include a browser such as Safari or a desktop app when its sound is sent through that route; BrowserAudio’s capture is specific to supported desktop Chrome tabs.

How the BlackHole and Audacity route works

BlackHole’s official Audacity recording guide starts after the source has been routed into the virtual device. For a typical stereo system-audio setup:

1. Install BlackHole and Audacity using their official instructions. Open macOS Audio MIDI Setup to configure the output route.
2. If you want to hear the source while recording, create a Multi-Output Device combining your listening output and BlackHole. Follow the project’s multi-output instructions for the primary clock device and drift correction.
3. Select that device for the audio you intend to route. For system output, this can include other apps and alerts using the same route, so check what else is playing.
4. In Audacity, open Audio Setup, then Audio Settings. Choose BlackHole as the recording device and the appropriate stereo channels. Check any macOS audio-input permission Audacity requests.
5. Make a brief test, record the wanted passage and stop. Edit and export in Audacity, then restore your normal output selection when you have finished with the route.

Monitoring is another decision: a multi-output device lets you listen through the physical output, while Audacity’s input playthrough can create a feedback path when recording system audio. Audacity’s desktop-recording guidance advises leaving input monitoring off for that workflow. BlackHole’s multi-output notes also explain why the normal system volume control may not operate on the combined device.

What makes that setup feel fiddly?

The recording application, source output and listening device must agree about where sound goes. If the waveform is flat, check the route and selected input rather than assuming the source is silent. The BlackHole guide also covers permissions and restarting Audacity when a newly installed device does not appear.

These are configuration choices, not proof that the driver is unreliable. Once configured, the broader route may be exactly what you need for sources outside Chrome or work that belongs in a desktop editor.

The BrowserAudio path for a Chrome tab

1. With BrowserAudio installed, open your authorized audio source in desktop Chrome and invoke the extension on that tab.
2. Confirm the source and recording length, click Record this tab and play the passage. The extension needs that explicit action to start capture.
3. Choose Stop & save. Preview the suggested tracks, merge unwanted quiet-gap boundaries, name the tracks and export MP3 or WAV.

There is no virtual-device or system-output setup in that path. It records tab playback without adding your microphone, rather than replacing a microphone recorder or a full-system routing tool. It is intended for short takes: Check the selected recording length before starting. See the recording-length guide before a longer passage.

Choose by source, then by editing needs

Consider BlackHole and Audacity when you need a Mac application or system-audio route and a desktop editing workflow. Choose BrowserAudio for authorized audio already playing in a supported Chrome tab when short capture, quiet-gap splitting and individual exports are the job. Neither route grants permission to copy a service’s content or bypass its restrictions.

The Mac tab-recording walkthrough covers the shorter path. For the underlying idea, read the radio-to-cassette analogy.