How to record audio on Windows 11

You can even record audio coming from your Windows 11 PC. Today's article will show you the steps to record audio on a Windows 11 PC using both native and third-party applications.

How to record audio with microphone on Windows 11

There are a few different ways you can record audio in Windows 11. You can use the built-in Sound Recorder app or a third-party app like Audacity to record using your PC's microphone. Here's how.

1. Record audio using the Sound Recorder application

The Sound Recorder app is easy to use and can record audio in many popular formats, including MP3, M4A, WAV, FLAC, and WMA. Open the Sound Recorder app from the search menu and select your preferred audio input device using the drop-down menu in the lower left corner.

Press the red dot button to start recording. While recording, you have the option to pause the process or save it by clicking the stop button. Additionally, you can also use keyboard shortcuts in the Sound Recorder app to perform these actions.

You can open the Settings menu in the Sound Recorder app to change the recording format or set your preferred sound quality.

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2. Record audio using the Audacity application

While Microsoft's built-in Sound Recorder app gets the job done, it doesn't have many features. If you are looking for a recording app with more features, you can download and use Audacity. This is a free application that can help you create and edit professional-quality audio recordings on your Windows computer.

Refer to the article: How to record audio with Audacity on your computer for more details.

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In addition to recording, Audacity also allows you to combine multiple tracks, remove background noise from recordings, remove vocals from music, and do more.

How to record audio coming from Windows 11 PC

Do you want to record audio coming from your Windows 11 PC? Don't worry, you don't need to insert a microphone into your computer speakers because Windows provides a convenient feature called Stereo Mix for this purpose.

Here's how you can enable and use Stereo Mix to record audio coming from your PC.

1. Right-click the speaker icon on the taskbar and select Sound settings from the resulting menu.
2. In the Settings app that opens, click More sound settings .
3. Switch to the Recording tab and find the Stereo Mix section. If Stereo Mix is ​​not visible, right-click anywhere on the empty space in the Recording tab and check the Show Disabled Devices option .
4. Right click on Stereo Mix and select Enable.
5. Right-click Stereo Mix again and select Set as Default Device .
6. Click Apply > OK to save changes.

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After completing the above steps, open the Sound Recorder or Audacity app and set Stereo Mix as the default audio input device. Then, play a song, podcast or lecture on your PC and record it.

David Pac

Update 18 October 2023