Discord is not just a messenger for gamers anymore — it’s an incredibly versatile platform for connecting with loved ones and finding like-minded people. The platform’s well-renowned voice chat feature also turned out great for work- or pet project-related purposes. Whether you’re making a podcast or documenting a D&D campaign with your friends, you may need to know how to record Discord audio. Follow this guide and learn about different ways to do it on desktop and mobile devices.
Why you may need to record Discord audio
Discord can help you with work, studies, and content creation tasks that require voice recordings — here are some interesting use cases:
- Podcasts. You can record a podcast offline but you’ll need a lot more gear like extra microphones and a soundproof room for better audio quality. Online voice call tools like Discord can do the job just as well — and they’re great for remote teams!
- Interviews. If you’re a journalist, a UX researcher or a scientist, you may need a platform to run and record interviews remotely. Discord is a great choice — unlike Zoom, it doesn’t have a 40-minute time limit for free users.
- Work meetings. You may need to record work meetings when you’re discussing important questions and agreements so nothing gets lost. Discord audio can also help you automate onboarding — instead of running calls with each new team member, just share a recording.
Is it legal to record Discord audio?
Discord doesn’t have a native feature for recording voice calls — does it mean it’s not allowed and violates both laws and the platform’s privacy policy?
If you want to know if it’s legal to record Discord audio, the short answer is yes. The slightly longer answer is yes, but only if it’s consensual. And this is where things get a little nuanced — especially if you live in the US. Basically, there are two types of consent:
- One-party consent means that you can record a call when at least one participant doesn’t mind you doing so. For example, you and two of your friends have a chitchat on Discord. You want to record the chat. One of your friends approves of it, the other doesn’t. You may come off as a jerk if you hit the “record” button but you’re still not doing anything illegal — you got consent from one party.
- Two-party consent means that everyone involved should give an explicit and informed consent. In this case, if you hit the “record” button when one of your Discord companions is against it, you’re violating the law.
As you can see on the map, one-party consent is enough in most states — however, in some US regions the regulations are not specified or require two-party consent.
You should also keep in mind that Discord claims to comply with the EU's General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR), which requires explicit consent for voice and video call recordings. Taking that into account, here’s how to record audio on Discord without legal risks:
- Get consent from all parties. That way, you’ll comply both with GDPR and local legislations.
- Start your record with a warning. Some recording apps have automated “Recording started” notifications — for example, the native conference recording tool in Zoom. If you’re using an app without such warnings, do them yourself once you hit the “record” button.
How to record audio on Discord using online tools
Now that you know the possible use cases and legal nuances of recording audio on Discord, it’s time to go down to learning. In this guide, we’ll tackle online, desktop, and mobile methods for recording Discord voice chats. Let’s begin, shall we?
Craig — the only “native” way to record Discord audio
Discord, unlike Zoom, doesn’t have a separate “record the conference” button — but it doesn’t mean you can’t record voice chats within the app itself. Meet Craig, a bot designed specifically for recording audio in Discord.
Here’s how to record audio on Discord mobile and desktop apps using Craig:
- Invite the bot to your server. To do this, go to Craig website and hit “Invite Craig to your Discord server”.
- Use the /join command to start recording.
- Use the /stop command to stop recording.
Craig captures audio directly from Discord, and in the end you’ll get separate tracks for each speaker in the best quality possible. It allows users to record Discord audio for up to 6 hours and it has no limit for participants — even if you’re recording a crowd of 10 or more people, the bot is here to help.
However, not all servers allow bots — is there an alternative?
Browser extensions
If you’re in a pinch and you don’t feel like dealing with another app on your computer, consider learning how to record Discord audio with screen recorder extensions. Here are some Google Chrome extensions that will do the job:
- Nimbus. It allows you to record audio and video from one tab or the entire browser, capture video from your webcam, and more.
- Screencastify. This Chrome extension allows you to record screencasts both from browser tabs and desktop, and it has a variety of settings in the audio and video setup. So, for example, if you’re using a separate microphone for better audio quality, you can choose in the extension settings.
- Wondershare DemoAir. This screen recording extension is very quick to set up and start recording. It won’t torture you with long onboarding and all you have to do is authorize with your Google account — and now you can record the next podcast episode!
- Awesome Screen Recorder & Screenshot. Unlike other Chrome extensions from the list, this one has a much more generous free plan and a bunch of cool features like annotation tools and an in-built video editor.
However, this method has its drawbacks:
- Browser extensions only work with the web version of Discord, which is not always convenient to use.
- All the extensions above have limits on free plans. For example, Nimbus only allows 5-minute videos. Awesome Screen Recorder allows more but it has limits — 20 recordings, no more than 6 hours each. The latter also cuts down the quality to 720p for free users, which can be crucial for audio.
- Some of these extensions only allow users to record screencasts with sound, so you’ll have to extract audio from video using separate apps, which is too much work.
If you’re recording Discord audio regularly for work or content creation, this is not the best option. In this case, consider third-party software.
How to record Discord audio using third-party software
There are many desktop apps that can record Discord audio for you, so we’ll cover the most popular options. Some of them only record audio, others also record screencasts — you’ll find a tool to your liking, no worries!
Audacity
Audacity is a free recording and sound editing app that allows users to record, cut, improve the audio quality, equalize, add effects, and more. Even though its UI design looks outdated, don’t be fooled by that! This audio editor will come in handy — especially if you have the audacity (pun intended) to record a podcast in 2023.
Here’s how to record Discord audio with Audacity:
- Enable stereo mix on your PC. To do this in Windows, click on the loud speaker icon on the control panel, go to the Recordings tab, and turn on the in-built stereo mixer. You need this to capture the device audio directly. Otherwise, you’ll only get the audio from your microphone.
- Set up the input sources. To do this, open the Discord app and go to User settings > Voice & Video > Input device. Input is where the sound is captured from — set it up to Stereo mix. Do the same thing in the Audacity audio settings. Remember this trick if you need to record audio from YouTube or other software or website.
- Record the audio in Audacity. Simply hit the “record” button and stop whenever you want. Once you’re done with the recording, you can export the file in MP3, WAV or OGG.
OBS
OBS is a popular app for broadcasting, recording and editing screencasts, and more. It’s useful for streamers, making tutorials for Youtube — and, of course, it allows you to capture a Discord voice chat.
Note that the settings in this app are very sophisticated and may come off as overly complex for beginners. This short guide shows the simplest method — anyway, here’s how to record Discord audio with OBS:
- Add a source. To do this, click on the “+” button and choose the Audio Output Capture option.
- Choose the output device. Once you created a new source, you’ll get a pop-up window where you can choose the output device. If your system has only one output device, stick to the Default option.
- Start recording. Click the “Start Recording” button and enjoy the ride.
The downside is that since OBS is a videocentric app, the end product will be an empty video in the format of your choice — so, yeah, you’ll have to extract audio in a separate app.
Wrapping up
Basically, there are two ways to record Discord audio on any device — Craig and external screen or audio recording apps. The latter can vary from convoluted tools like OBS to simple browser extensions. Choosing the method depends on whether you’re using Discord on your laptop or a smartphone, which sound setup you have, what you need the recording for, and so on.
However, no matter which method you choose, remember about the legal risks of non-consensual and secret voice chat recording — make sure that everyone on the server gives an active and informed consent.
