Are you looking for a streaming audio recorder to capture tracks, playlists, podcasts or any audio content on music streaming platforms like Spotify, Apple Music, SoundCloud, Tidal, etc.? Then you've come to the right place!
In this guide, we'll cover 9 popular audio streaming recording software compatible with Windows, Mac, and Linux. Some of them can download high-quality music from various music services, and some can record streaming audio for 100% free. For each tool, we've included their pros and cons, key features, and step-by-step tutorials.
#1. ViWizard Streaming Audio Recorder
🖥️ Available on: Windows, Mac
🙋♂️ Ideal for: Users who want high-quality music downloads from various music streaming services
🎵 Supported Audio Content: Music from Spotify, Apple Music, Tidal, SoundCloud, Deezer, Qobuz, Amazon Music, Pandora, Line Music
📼 Recording Method: One-click batch download
ViWizard Streaming Audio Recorder is a professional desktop software designed for users who want to download music from streaming platforms and convert it to DRM-free MP3, FLAC, WAV, M4A, AIFF and M4B formats (with full ID3 tagging). Don't be fooled by its name, it doesn't actually require you to "record" the music in real time, instead, you can download it directly with just one click. Another thing we love about this tool is that it preserves the original sound quality and allows you to adjust the bitrate (64kbps-320kbps) and sample rate (22kHz-48kHz).
A versatile all-in-one streaming music recorder that downloads music from Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, Tidal, Deezer, Pandora, SoundCloud, Qobuz and LINE MUSIC into MP3, FLAC, WAV, AIFF, M4A, and M4B formats in high quality.
How to Record Streaming Audio Using ViWizard Streaming Audio Recorder
Step 1 Customize Download Preferences
Open ViWizard Streaming Audio Recorder on a Windows or Mac computer. Click the menu icon in the upper-right corner, select Preferences and navigate to the Conversion tab. Select the audio output format and set the bitrate, sample rate and audio channels for the audio quality. Then, set the output directory. When you are done, click OK to save.
Step 2Open the Built-in Music Web Player
On the main interface of ViWizard, you will see 9 music logos. To record audio from a streaming service specifically, just click on its icon and ViWizard will open the built-in web player so that you don't have to open them in your web browser.
Step 3Select Music
In the built-in web player, search or browse for songs, playlists, albums, and radio stations you want to download. Once you have found the audio, click the plus (+) button in the lower right corner. Next, ViWizard will open a window for you where you can select, delete or add more songs to the list. After selecting all the music, click Add to list.
Step 4Start the Download and Convert
Click the Convert button. ViWizard will batch download the tracks you added and convert them according to your preferences. When you're done, click the folder icon next to the track title and you'll see the output audio files stored on your local computer. You can freely play these files on your computer or transfer them to other devices.
- Pros
- User-friendly interface
- Supports a wide range of popular music platforms
- Maintains original sound quality and ID3 tags
- 65x faster download speeds
- DRM-free
- Supports downloads of public and private music
- Cons
- Offers a free trial, but it's not completely free
#2. ViWizard Audio Capture
🖥️ Available on: Windows, Mac
🙋♂️ Ideal for: Users who want to record audio from various apps like browsers, media players, iTunes, Apple Music, Tidal, and more
🎵 Supported Audio Content: Audio from music services, sites, voice chats, live courses, games, online meetings, background music
📼 Recording Method: Live recording
ViWizard Audio Capture is a tool for recording streaming audio from different applications in real time. Whether you want to record music from a streaming service or audio from a live, conference or course, ViWizard Audio Capture is a reliable tool. What we like most is its ability to record multiple audio tracks at the same time. Even after recording, you can split the recording into separate audio, merge the audio into one, and convert them to universal audio formats (MP3, FLAC, WAV, M4B, etc) with its lossless audio quality.
Step 1: Launch ViWizard Audio Capture on your computer.
Step 2: Select the source of the audio recording.
Step 3: Select the output format for the audio.
Step 4: Click the Start button and start playing the audio.
Step 5: When the recording is complete, click the Stop button.
Step 6: Trim the audio to remove parts you don't want or to combine multiple audios into one.
Step 7: Click the Save button to download the audio to your computer.
- Pros
- Keeps the lossless audio quality and full metadata information
- Multi-track recording
- Simple user interface
- Cons
- Offers a free trial, but it's not completely free
#3. Audacity
🖥️ Available on: Windows, Mac, Linux
🙋♂️ Ideal for: Advanced users who want full editorial control over recorded audio
🎵 Supported Audio Content: System audio, microphone input, online music, voiceovers
📼 Recording Method: Records in real time
Audacity is a free and open source audio stream recording software and audio editor. You can use it to record all audio content on your computer, including sounds from your sound card and microphone. It also supports exporting audio to formats such as WAV, MP3, AIFF, and Ogg.
One of Audacity's most powerful features is the ability to edit recorded audio, such as reducing noise, changing pitch or speed, splitting tracks, adding sound effects, and more. According to the latest version, macOS users can also take advantage of the integrated OpenVINO AI add-on, which uses AI to achieve noise reduction, voice transcription, vocal separation, and other premium editing without having to do it manually.
Step 1: Install and launch Audacity on your computer.
Step 2: Open the drop-down menu at the top and select an audio source, such as from microphone or Stereo Mix.
Step 3: Click the red Record button and start playing the audio you want to record.
Step 4: Hit the brown Stop button whenever you want to end the recording.
Step 5: Hit the green Play button to listen to the recording.
Step 6: Click the Edit tab or Effect tab to make the audio as you like it.
Step 7: Click the File tab, select Export, and choose a format.
- Pros
- Compatible with Windows, macOS, Linux
- Very powerful editing tools
- Cons
- Not friendly to beginners
- Requires third-party software (Soundflower) to record audio on macOS
- Windows 10 users may experience internal port audio errors
- Requires a separate LAME encoder to export MP3 files
#4. SoundTap Streaming Audio Recorder
🖥️ Available on: Windows
🙋♂️ Ideal for: Content creators who want to save audio from live broadcasts, VoIP calls, webinars, etc.
🎵 Supported Audio Content: Music streams, VoIP calls (Skype, Zoom, etc.), system audio and microphone input, podcasts, webinars, and internet radio.
📼 Recording Method: Records in real time
SoundTap Streaming Audio Recorder is a tool developed by NCH Software to record streaming audio from various sources. Even if it's an internet phone call, a live broadcast, or a webinar, it is guaranteed to record every audio detail for you and save it in MP3 and WAV formats. However, according to VA.gov, the tool is strictly controlled. If you're going to use it, you'll need to get a security license, so it's not a good choice if you're going to use it on a daily basis.
Step 1: Download and install SoundTap Streaming Audio Recorder from its official website.
Step 2: Launch SoundTap and click the Options button on the toolbar.
Step 3: Choose MP3 or WAV as the output format and select the output folder.
Step 4: Go to the app or site where you want to record audio. If from microphone, check the "Also record from microphone" box.
Step 5: Click the Start Recording button and begin playback.
Step 6: Click the Stop Recording button when finished. The file will be saved automatically.
- Pros
- Easy-to-use interface
- Perfect to record internet calls and live broadcasts
- Integrates with other NCH tools
- Cons
- Not free
- Windows only
- MP3 and WAV only
- Not designed for general public
#5. Apowersoft Streaming Audio Recorder
🖥️ Available on: Windows, Mac
🙋♂️ Ideal for: Users who want to automatically record live streams or conferences with a timer set in advance
🎵 Supported Audio Content: Streaming music, podcasts, audiobooks, VoIP calls, online meetings, broadcasts
📼 Recording Method: Real-time recording
Apowersoft Streaming Audio Recorder is a full-featured audio recorder. In addition to the common features of recording audio from system audio and microphone, it also integrates audio management, editing, audio to text, format conversion (MP3, AAC, FLAC, WMA, OGG, etc.), and even burning audio to CD.
However, according to the feedback from the users, the quality of the audio recorded by this software may be limited to 128kbps at the most. Therefore, if you are looking for a higher quality of recording, choosing ViWizard's tools might be a better choice.
Step 1: Download Apowersoft Streaming Audio Recorder from the official website.
Step 2: Click Record Settings to set the quality, format, skip mute and advanced options for the recorded audio.
Step 3: Click the source icon on the main interface and select the audio source option you want (e.g. system sound, microphone or both).
Step 4: Click the red Record button to start playing the audio you want to record.
Step 5: When you want to stop, click the red Pause/Stop button. The recording will automatically be saved to the Library.
Step 6: To edit a recording, go to the Library, then right-click on the track and select the feature you want, such as Edit, Convert, Add to iTunes, Recognize ID3 Tags, or Burn to CD.
Step 7: To record on a schedule, use the schedule task feature to set the start and stop times.
- Pros
- Offers a wide range of features
- Records both system audio and microphone audio simultaneously
- Schedules for unattended recording
- Cons
- Free, but you have to pay to use all the features
- Recorded audio quality is limited to 128kbps
- No noise reduction
- Audio-to-text conversions are limited to 30 minutes
#6. Abyssmedia Streaming Audio Recorder
🖥️ Available on: Windows
🙋♂️ Ideal for: Users who want to record streaming music with advanced scheduler
🎵 Supported Audio Content: Music and radio from Spotify, YouTube, Apple Music, Pandora
📼 Recording Method: Real-time recording
Abyssmedia Streaming Audio Recorder is another program to record streaming audio that comes with a schedule to plan ahead for your recordings. However, this tool is limited to recording streaming audio from online music platforms and radio services. Other features include a smart track splitter, open file format conversion (MP3, OGG, WAV, FLAC), and a basic editor (e.g., trim, normalize, fade audio, etc.).
Step 1: Download Abyssmedia Streaming Audio Recorder from the official website
Step 2: Select the audio format in the settings, e.g. MP3, FLAC.
Step 3: Open the streaming service or audio source you want to record from.
Step 4: Use the global hotkey Ctrl-Alt-R to start recording.
Step 5: Use the global hotkey Ctrl-Alt-S to stop recording.
Step 6: If you want to plan for future recordings, open the scheduler in the program and set the start and stop times. The recorder will automatically record when your computer is turned on.
- Pros
- Supports a wide range of streaming and broadcast services
- Smartly detects and skips ads while recording
- Built-in scheduler
- Can be used with global hotkeys
- Cons
- Not free
- Windows only
- Must record in real time
- May not record encrypted streams
#7. AllToMP3
🖥️ Available on: Windows, Mac, Linux
🙋♂️ Ideal for: Users who want to record streaming music as MP3 files for free
🎵 Supported Audio Content: Music from YouTube, SoundCloud, Spotify, Deezer
📼 Recording Method: Parsing the streaming URL
AllToMP3 is a free and open source tool for recording tracks, playlists and albums on Spotify, SoundCloud, YouTube and Deezer. Unlike most audio streams, it captures audio by parsing a track's URL and downloads the music as an MP3 file with full metadata, including album art, lyrics, artist, release year, title, and more.
Step 1: Download AllToMP3 from the official GitHub release page.
Step 2: Go to Spotify, YouTube, Deezer, or SoundCloud and copy the link to the song, album, or playlist you want to download.
Step 3: Paste the URL into the AllToMP3 program.
Step 4: Press Enter or the download arrow.
Step 5: AllToMP3 will start downloading the MP3 version of the song to your computer.
- Pros
- Totally free
- Keeps full ID3 tags and lyrics
- Downloads whole playlists or albums
- Cons
- Only supports sound quality up to 256kbps MP3
- Download speed is slow
- Software updates are rare
- Can't download private songs
#8. OBS Studio
🖥️ Available on: Windows, Mac, Linux
🙋♂️ Ideal for: Users who want a professional-level tool for recording both audio and video
🎵 Supported Audio Content: System audio, microphone audio, app-specific audio
📼 Recording Method: Real-time recording
OBS Studio (Open Broadcaster Software) is another audio stream recorder freeware and open-source tool. It is mainly used for live streaming, but it is also known for its high performance live video and audio capture and mixing capabilities. So, in addition to being suitable for gamers, this software is also perfect for podcast producers, artists, or any user who wants to record multitrack audio.
Step 1: Open the OBS Studio.
Step 2: Go to Settings > Audio and manually select your desktop audio device or microphone device.
Step 3: Go to Settings > Output, and set output folder and other advanced settings for your recordings.
Step 4: Click on the Start Recording button.
Step 5: Click the Stop Recording button when finished.
Step 6: Your recording will be saved to the specified output folder.
- Pros
- Free to use
- Multi-track recording
- Customizable with plug-ins and filters
- Records audio and video
- Cons
- Steeper learning curve
- Must record in real time
- Cannot pause during recording
- No built-in advance audio editing features
#9. Aktiv MP3 Recorder
🖥️ Available on: Windows
🙋♂️ Ideal for: Users who need a lightweight tool to record audio from multiple sources
🎵 Supported Audio Content: Any computer audio, microphone, CD/DVD, external inputs
📼 Recording Method: Real-time recording
Aktiv MP3 Recorder is a free streaming audio recorder for Windows 10 that supports recording streaming music and radio, podcasts, audiobooks, system audio, microphone and audio from TV CD/DVD or any external analog input. Once recorded, Aktiv can export the audio to MP3, WAV, WMA, OGG, VOX, AU or AIFF formats. Like many audio recording programs, it also offers trimming, splitting and other basic audio editing features.
Step 1: Install Aktiv MP3 Recorder on your Windows computer.
Step 2: Open the recorder and select the input device, desired format, quality, and output folder on the main interface.
Step 3: Start playing the audio and click the Record button in Aktiv.
Step 4: When finished, click the pause button.
Step 5: Your recording will be downloaded to the target output folder.
- Pros
- Free
- Supports recording from the system or microphone
- Supports multiple formats
- Provides basic audio editing functions
- Customizable hotkeys and sound quality
- Cons
- Only supports Windows systems
- Real-time recording
- Lacks advanced editing tools
- Outdated interface
Bonus Tip: How to Record Audio from Website on PC/Mac/Android/iPhone
If you are looking for a recording tool specifically designed for recording website audio, such as podcasts, online lectures, etc., here is a comprehensive guide introducing 6 methods for recording audio from the web, some of which are 100% free. Check out now.
Check this post to effortlessly record audio from any website to capture streaming content, lectures, podcasts, and more with unparalleled sound quality.
Conclusion
Choosing the best streaming audio recording software ultimately depends on your device and specific needs. If you're focused on recording streaming music or seeking a tool that can directly download streaming audio without real-time recording, then ViWizard Streaming Audio Recorder or ViWizard Audio Capture would be more suitable options. If you're looking for free recording software but also want it to have some advanced audio mixing or editing features, Audacity and OBS Studio are also worth trying. Now, choose the software that interests you most and start recording songs, podcasts, or broadcasts in high quality right away!
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Dave Henry, a multimedia technologist at ViWizard, focuses on delivering the best solutions for digital media challenges, including audio and video conversion, media optimization, and troubleshooting.
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