Nowadays it is common to find web pages that have numerous videos or audio files, which are played when we access them. In the case of videos, there are many methods to be able to download them and save them on the computer. In the case of audio there are not so many options, but it is possible to use some tools for it.
And it is that recording audio that is played on our computer can be of great interest to us in certain situations. For this we can make use of a tool integrated into Windows such as the voice recorder. We can also opt for third-party software such as VB-Audio Virtual Cable, extensions for Chrome or Firefox, as well as online applications that will help us carry out this task.
Record audio with Windows Recorder
In the event that we do not want to use other software, we can always use the voice recorder that is integrated in both Windows 10 and Windows 11 . With it we will be able to record any sound from an online radio station or a song that we are listening to online from the browser itself. We can download it for free from the Microsoft Store .
Once installed, we run it and we find a simple interface, but quite modern. Its main function and action it can perform is simple, that of recording audio. They allow us with a button in blue, the beginning of the audio recording that we want.
Just by clicking on that button, the program will take care of recording all the sound that the computer emits, so if we are listening to any sound from the browser, it will record it. At any time we can pause or stop it, and we can even cut or delete it.
It should be noted that this method can be a bit sloppy as it is, because what we are going to do is record the sound that sounds through the speakers directly from the sound that the speakers emit. For this reason, to obtain the best quality, it will be necessary to install software such as VB-Audio Virtual Cable to obtain better sound quality.
Install VB-Audio Virtual Cable for better sound quality
It is a free program, which we can download from this link to its official website. What this software does is install a driver on your computer that adds two new devices that will appear among the sound devices on your computer. This software does not actually record browser audio, but instead pipes the output of the audio playing on your PC to the microphone input. That is, the PC microphone line will receive input from the speaker line, so any audio coming out of the speakers will be recorded. Of course, we will need audio recording software such as Windows Recorder.
Now we must access the Sound window of the Configuration menu that opens when right-clicking on the volume icon on the taskbar and choosing the Sound option.
Once the Windows Configuration panel has been opened in the Sound section, we must set CABLE Input as default in output and CABLE Output as default in input. Next, we are ready to record any audio that is played in the browser and open any voice recorder to record the audio from the PC, such as the Windows voice recorder.
Once the recording is finished, if we want to be able to listen to the result of the recording through the speakers of our PC, it will be necessary to set the output device to the speakers again. In this way, when we play it from the Windows voice recorder we will hear everything we have recorded with superior quality.
With these third-party apps
Beyond the use of the Windows voice recorder, we can also use other types of software to record the sound that we play from the browser.
Free Audio Recorder Online
It is an online tool to record audio in a simple and free way, since it only requires us to click once to start the recording and adjust different settings. The sound recording will have the original quality of the clip , so the recording we make will be as good as the sound we are hearing. It allows us to record the sound from the system, through the microphone or both. To access, just click on this link to its website , click on Start Recording and download the installation file.
Once the application interface appears, we can now record the sound of the browser. Click on the icon in the lower left corner of the device and select your audio source . We can use a microphone if we want to record ourselves. We can also click System Sound if you just want to record only from your browser. Or choose System sound and Microphone if we are going to make interactive videos.
All that remains is to start the browser and visit the website where we want to listen and record the sound. Once we start playing it, we click on the “Record” button of the application so that it begins to record the sound. Once everything is recorded, we press the “Stop” button to save the recorded sound on our PC.
Audacity
We are talking about an open source multitrack audio editor and recorder , free and in Spanish, that we can download from the developer’s website . With it we will be able to record the reproduction that is playing through the speakers of our Windows computer with a specific function for it, thanks to which we can select the speaker output as a source to record.
The first thing we must do is activate the ” Stereo mix” , which will allow us to collect the audio that is transmitted through the sound card of our equipment. To do this, in Windows 10 we will write “sound” in the Start menu and the “Sound Settings” will appear. Once here, we must click on “Manage sound devices”. From here we can enable the “Stereo Mix”.
In Windows 11 we type in the search box of the Start menu “sound” and select the Sound Settings. Here at the bottom, we select the All sound devices section. On the next page within the input devices, we select the “Stereo Mix” option.
Now we open Audacity and it will appear and in its main menu we must go to the microphone section, display the menu and select ” Stereo Mix” . We must also have the 2-channel recording option selected, so that we can record in stereo. To the left of the sound we’ll change the main MME source to ” Windows DirectSound” . The only thing left for us to do is start recording the system sound by clicking on the “Record” button. This will start recording sound from Windows.
With browser extensions
It is also possible to record the sound of our browser using extensions for the most popular web browsers such as Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox.
Voice recorder for Google Chrome
If we use Google Chrome as our usual browser, we can make use of an extension called Voice Recorder, to be able to obtain and save any sound that is emitted from the browser. To do this, we just have to download this add -on from the Chrome Web Store.
Voice Recorder is a convenient and simple online tool that can be used directly from Chrome. This allows us to record our voice using a microphone and save it as an MP3 file . Therefore, we only have to install it in the browser and click on the Record button that adds this extension to the Google Chrome browser every time we want to start recording any audio that is played in the browser itself.
Voice Recorder Online for Firefox
It is a simple and free sound recording tool. With it we will be able to record audio and voice directly from our Firefox browser without having to install any additional software and save it as an MP3 file. We just have to download it from the Mozilla Store . By using it, our data is safe because it does not store it on its servers, it only records the processing by our browser on the PC.
Once we have it installed in Firefox, all we have to do is press its button and a new page will appear where we have the Record buttons available to start recording, Stop to stop and Pause to pause the recording. At the moment we click on Stop the recording stops and we can save the file as MP3 on our hard drive.