Guides / Recording lectures, podcasts and interviews
How to record an online course or training on a Mac
Tested on macOS 26.4.1 (Tahoe), Apple M3 Max, 3 Sept 2026. Updated 2026-09-03.
You can record an online course on a Mac as audio with a system audio recorder, or as video with the built-in screen recorder or OBS. Whether you may do so is set by the platform's terms: Udemy grants a license "to view it via the Udemy Services and no other use", and Coursera limits use to "personal, non-commercial". An hour of course audio is 144 MB as MP3 320.
Am I allowed to record an online course I paid for?
This is not legal advice; it is what the platforms' own terms say, fetched on 3 September 2026.
- Udemy (Terms of Use, section 2): "When you enroll in a course or other content, you get a license from us to view it via the Udemy Services and no other use." The same section says you may not "reproduce, redistribute, transmit, assign, sell, broadcast, rent, share, lend, modify, adapt, edit, create derivative works of, sublicense, or otherwise transfer or use any content" without written permission.
- Coursera (Terms of Use): "The rights granted herein are only for your personal, non-commercial use, unless you obtain our written permission otherwise." Its Acceptable Use Policy prohibits users who "Reproduce, transfer, sell, resell, or otherwise misuse any content from our Services".
- Teachable: the platform terms do not address student recording; content "is and remains" the creator's, so the creator's own course policy applies.
Read plainly: the big marketplaces license viewing, not copying, and a recording is a copy. Employer or university training is different again and usually has an internal policy. The safe path is to ask the instructor or the training department, keep any permitted recording private, and never redistribute it. If the course offers an official download or offline mode, use that instead of recording.
Should I record the course as audio or as video?
Decide by what you will do with the file.
- Audio only when the course is mostly talking and you want to listen on a walk or feed the file to a transcription tool for notes. Files are small: 2.4 MB per minute as MP3 320, so a 10-minute module is 24 MB and a 60-minute session is 144 MB.
- Video when the slides, code or demonstrations carry the content. The Mac's screenshot toolbar (Shift-Command-5) records the screen to a .mov, and OBS Studio records screen plus desktop audio on macOS 13 and newer into mkv or mp4. Expect files many times larger than audio, depending on resolution and frame rate.
A common middle path is audio for the whole course and a handful of screenshots for the diagrams. Note two things about audio capture on macOS. First, system audio capture through ScreenCaptureKit records what the Mac plays and nothing else, so if you talk during the module, your voice is not in the file; that is what you want here. Second, some players deliver protected video, and DRM-protected playback can come through silent under ScreenCaptureKit. Standard web players used by course platforms capture normally, but test a 30-second clip before recording a full module. See why a Mac screen recording is black or silent on Netflix for the protected case.
How do I record the audio of an online course on a Mac?
QuickTime cannot do this; its audio recording lists microphones only. You need a recorder that captures system audio. Tested steps with AirCheck on macOS 26.4.1:
- Choose System Audio as the source. Approve Screen Recording once under System Settings > Privacy & Security > Screen & System Audio Recording. Nothing is installed in Audio MIDI Setup.
- Set the export format to MP3 320 for lectures you will listen to or transcribe, or WAV 16-bit if you will edit.
- Silence notifications. Every sound the Mac plays goes into the file, except AirCheck's own playback.
- Press record, play the module, press stop at the end. One take per module keeps files short and easy to name. The file appears in ~/Music/AirCheck and in the app's Library, where you can group a course into a folder.
Free alternatives: OBS Studio captures desktop audio and screen but writes a video container and needs a scene set up. BlackHole is a free virtual driver that needs a Multi-Output Device or your speakers go silent, plus a recorder such as Audacity; see recording Mac audio without BlackHole. If the player pauses or buffers, a recorder that keeps running matters: AirCheck's watchdog restarts capture into the same file after 5 seconds of silence from the source instead of ending the take.
How big will a whole course be and how do I turn it into notes?
Sizes below are computed from the measured MB per minute on the author's Mac, not estimated.
- A 10-hour course as MP3 320: 1,440 MB.
- The same course as 16-bit 48 kHz WAV: 6,600 MB.
- As 24-bit 48 kHz: 9,900 MB.
For speech, MP3 320 is the right export. Nothing in a transcription pipeline benefits from 24-bit, and a course library at 24-bit fills a laptop drive. For notes, transcribe locally: MacWhisper's free tier accepts MP3, WAV and M4A and processes on the Mac, so course content you are only licensed to view is not uploaded anywhere. Otter.ai accepts files up to 5 GB but the Basic free plan transcribes only the first 30 minutes of each file and allows three imports per account. Full options are in how to transcribe audio on a Mac. If the course is a live training with a Q&A where you speak, the module changes: your voice is a second source, and recording a webinar on a Mac covers that setup.
When you enroll in a course or other content, you get a license from us to view it via the Udemy Services and no other use.
Udemy, Terms of Use, section 2
Ways to record an online course on a Mac
| Method | Output | Captures course audio | Captures your voice too | Size for a 60-minute module | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Screenshot toolbar (Shift-Command-5) | video .mov | mic only unless the app supports system audio | yes (mic) | depends on resolution | free |
| OBS Studio | video mkv or mp4 | yes (macOS 13+) | yes, mixed in | depends on settings | free |
| BlackHole + Audacity | audio | yes, via Multi-Output Device | no | 660 MB as 16-bit WAV | free |
| AirCheck (System Audio source) | audio WAV or MP3 | yes (ScreenCaptureKit) | no | 144 MB as MP3 320 | $39 |
| Platform offline download | platform's own format | yes | no | set by platform | included where offered |
Audio sizes use the measured rates 11.0 MB/min (16-bit 48 kHz) and 2.4 MB/min (MP3 320).
Where AirCheck fits
AirCheck ($39, macOS 14 or newer) is the audio-only route: it records what the course player plays through ScreenCaptureKit, with no virtual driver and no video file to strip afterwards, exports MP3 320 at 2.4 MB per minute, and keeps recording through buffering because its watchdog restarts capture into the same file. The Library groups modules into folders. It records one source, so it is the wrong tool for a training where your own questions must be in the file.
When you do not need it: If the platform offers an offline download, use that; it is permitted and better quality. If you need the slides, record video with the free screenshot toolbar or OBS instead.
AirCheck records what your Mac plays, or any input, to one file. $39 once.
macOS 14 or newer. One-off payment. Fourteen-day refund, no questions asked.
Questions people ask
Can I record a Udemy course for offline use?
Udemy's terms grant a license to view content through its services and prohibit reproducing it without written permission. The Udemy app offers offline viewing on mobile for many courses; that is the permitted route. Anything else is a question for Udemy or the instructor, not for this page.
Why is my course recording silent?
Either the recorder captures the mic rather than system audio (QuickTime does), Screen Recording permission was not granted, or the player uses DRM-protected playback, which comes through silent under ScreenCaptureKit. Test 30 seconds before recording a full module.
Can I record a live training on Zoom or Teams the same way?
Yes for the presenter's audio. Your own questions are not captured by system audio, so use the meeting's recorder if the host allows it, or run a mic recording alongside. See recording Zoom audio on a Mac.
What format should I save course audio in?
MP3 320 kbps. Speech does not need lossless, and 2.4 MB per minute keeps a 10-hour course at 1.4 GB. Choose WAV 16-bit only if you plan to cut and re-export the audio.
Sources
- Udemy: Terms of Use
- Coursera: Terms of Use
- Teachable: Terms of Use
- MacWhisper
- Otter.ai: Import an audio or video file
- Otter.ai: Conversation, import, and app limits on the Basic free plan