Online voice recorder: record your voice and download it

Sometimes you just need to record your voice: a voice memo, a practice talk, a song idea, a message for a colleague. This online voice recorder does that in the browser, with nothing to install, no account and no upload. Record, pause, listen, download.

How to record your voice

1. Press Start recording and choose Allow when the browser asks for the microphone.
2. Speak. The bar shows your level and the timer counts up.
3. Press Pause to take a break and Resume to go on. The pause leaves no gap in the file.
4. Press Stop. The recording appears below with a player, its length and its size.
5. Press Download to save it to your computer. Delete removes it from the page.

Make as many recordings as you like: each one gets its own row, newest first. Turn on Reduce background noise before you start to let the browser lower fans and hums.

Get a clear recording

• Pick the right microphone. A headset or a USB microphone sounds better than a laptop's built-in one. The mic test lets you compare them.
• Stay about a hand's width away, and speak across the microphone, not straight into it, to soften pops.
• Choose a soft room. Curtains, a sofa and a rug absorb echo; a kitchen or a bathroom adds it.
• Watch the level. The bar should reach the middle when you speak and rarely touch the end.

What you get

Your browser picks the file type. Browsers that can record WebM, such as Chrome, Edge, Brave and Firefox, make a WebM file with Opus sound; browsers that cannot make an MP4 (M4A) file instead. The recorder asks for 128 kbps, which is clear for speech and good for music, at about 1 MB a minute.

Most media players open WebM files. If an app you use cannot, convert the file with a free tool such as VLC or ffmpeg.

What people record with it

• Practice a talk or a presentation, then listen back for pace and filler words.
• Leave a voice message for a colleague or a friend, and send the file.
• Catch an idea before it slips away: a melody, a plan, a to-do list said out loud.
• Practice a language and compare your pronunciation with a native speaker's.
• Record a short interview or a lesson, with permission.
• Read text aloud for someone who prefers listening.

Pause or stop?

Pause keeps the recording open, so the next part joins the same file without a gap. Use it when you lose your place or someone interrupts. Stop finishes the file, so it can be played and downloaded. Each Start recording after that makes a new file.

Recording on a phone

The recorder works in current phone browsers too. Keep the screen on while you record, because some phones pause the page when the screen locks or you switch apps. Download each recording before you leave the page; on a phone it lands in your Downloads or Files app.

Privacy

The recording never leaves your computer. The microphone sound goes from the browser straight into the recorder on this page, and this page has no analytics. Downloading saves the file with your browser's usual download, like any other file.

When you need more than a voice memo

A browser recorder is perfect for a quick clip. For recordings you want to keep with your work, Barside is a free desktop app that records your voice, your screen or both straight into a note, next to the text they belong to. It can also transcribe what you say as you record, on your own computer with Whisper, so a call or a spoken note turns into searchable text without any upload. Barside runs on Windows, Linux and Mac.

Compare transcription options in our list of the best transcription apps, and record your screen in the browser with the online screen recorder.