You're sitting there, ready to show your friends that one specific scene from a movie or a stray YouTube clip, and you hit the share button. Everything looks great. But then you realize they can see the video, but they can't hear a single thing. Or worse, they hear a feedback loop that sounds like a jet engine taking off in a library. It’s annoying. Honestly, figuring out how to screen share audio on Discord should be easier than it actually is, but because of how Windows and macOS handle "audio ducking" and permissions, it’s often a mess.
Let's get one thing straight: you can't just share your whole screen and expect audio to work every time. That is the number one mistake people make. If you choose "Screens" instead of "Applications" in the sharing menu, Discord basically gives up on the audio side for most users.
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The basic way to get sound moving
If you want to know how to screen share audio on Discord, you have to understand the "Application" rule. Discord doesn't grab audio from your sound card directly by default; it hooks into specific programs.
Open your Discord settings. Go to Voice & Video. Scroll all the way down. You'll see a section called "Screen Share." There is a little toggle there for "Use an experimental method to capture audio from applications." Turn that on. It sounds scary because it says "experimental," but it's been in that state for years and it’s usually the only way things work.
Now, when you go to share, don't click the tab that says "Screens." Click the one that says "Applications." Pick the specific window—like Chrome, Spotify, or your game. If you do this, Discord "hooks" the audio output of that specific app. If you just share your entire desktop (Screen 1), Discord often mutes everything to prevent an infinite loop of you hearing yourself. It’s a safety feature that feels like a bug.
Why your Mac is making it difficult
Apple is notoriously protective over system-level audio. If you are on a MacBook or an iMac, you’ve probably noticed that the audio sharing option is just... missing. Or it tells you that you need to install an "Audio Capture Driver."
Do it.
You have to go into your System Settings, then Privacy & Security, and then Screen Recording. You have to give Discord permission there. But even then, macOS doesn't naturally allow third-party apps to "hijack" the internal audio stream. Discord uses a tool (often based on ACE or similar tech) to grab that sound. If you're on an M1, M2, or M3 chip, you might have to restart Discord after granting these permissions for the "Install" button to actually work. It’s a pain, but once that driver is in, the audio toggle will finally appear when you start a stream.
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When the audio just stays silent
Sometimes you do everything right and there’s still nothing. Total silence. This usually happens because Discord doesn't recognize the game or the app as a "game."
Go back to your settings. Look for "Registered Games." If you don't see the app you’re trying to share, click "Add it!" and select your browser or your media player. Once Discord recognizes it as a "game," it treats the audio stream with higher priority. This is a weird workaround, but it works for apps like VLC or even specialized software like Ableton if you’re trying to show off a music project.
Another thing? Admin rights.
Sometimes Windows blocks Discord from "listening" to another app's audio for security reasons. Try closing Discord completely—make sure it’s not just minimized in the tray—and right-click the Discord icon. Select "Run as Administrator." This gives Discord the "keys to the kingdom" so it can grab audio from other windows without the OS stepping in to block it.
The "No Audio" Checklist
- Is the app muted? Check your Windows Volume Mixer. Sometimes the app is at 100%, but Discord's "capture" of that app is muted in the system settings.
- Full Screen vs Windowed: Discord hates sharing audio from games in "Exclusive Fullscreen" mode. Switch your game to "Borderless Windowed." It fixed 90% of the issues I've run into.
- The Discord Voice Reset: Go to Settings > Voice & Video > Reset Voice Settings (at the very bottom). This clears the cache for your audio drivers in the app. You'll have to set your mic again, but it fixes the "zombie" audio bugs.
Browser issues are a different beast
If you're trying to share a Netflix or Disney+ tab, you’ll probably see a black screen or hear no audio. That’s DRM (Digital Rights Management) doing its job. To get around this for a watch party, you usually have to go into your browser settings (Chrome or Edge) and turn off "Hardware Acceleration."
Once that's off, restart the browser. Now Discord can "see" the frames and "hear" the audio because the GPU isn't encrypting the stream. Just remember to turn hardware acceleration back on when you're done, or your browser will feel sluggish during normal use.
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Advanced setups: Virtual Cables
If you're a power user and the "Application" sharing still feels flaky, look into VB-Audio Virtual Cable. It’s a free piece of software (donationware) that creates a "fake" speaker and a "fake" microphone.
You tell your game to send audio to "Cable Input." Then, in Discord, you set your "Microphone" to "Cable Output." This is a brute-force method. It bypasses all of Discord's internal sharing logic and just pipes the raw audio directly into the voice channel as if it were your voice. The downside? You can't talk and share audio at the same time unless you use a mixer like Voicemeeter Banana to combine your mic and the game audio into one stream.
It's a bit of a rabbit hole. But for people doing professional presentations or high-quality music sharing, it's the only way to ensure the bitrate doesn't tank.
Actionable steps to fix it now
If you are currently in a call and it's not working, do this exact sequence:
- Stop the stream.
- Go to User Settings > Voice & Video and toggle "OpenH264 Video Codec" off and then back on.
- Ensure the app you want to share is NOT minimized. Discord cannot capture audio from a window that is minimized to the taskbar.
- Use the "Applications" tab to share, not the "Screens" tab.
- If on a browser, toggle Hardware Acceleration off in the browser settings.
- Restart Discord as an Administrator.
Most of the time, the "Run as Administrator" trick is the silver bullet for Windows users. For Mac users, it’s almost always a permissions issue in the System Settings under "Screen Recording" or "Accessibility."
Discord is great, but it's basically a bunch of web-tech (Electron) trying to act like a high-end broadcasting suite. Sometimes it just needs a little nudge to remember how to talk to your hardware. If you follow the "Application" over "Screen" rule, you're already ahead of most people.