Nearly 90 percent of people around the world listen to streaming audio. You can listen while doing other things but you can’t necessarily watch so audio tends to be more versatile than video.
If you want to join the ranks of audio streamers and are using a Mac, you might be running into some challenges. Let’s look at how to stream audio from your Mac computer.
Factors to Consider If You Want to Stream Audio
There are several important things to consider when getting set up to stream Mac audio. Some of them have a bearing on how you configure your Mac and what apps you’ll need while others are more general in nature.
What Kind of Audio Are You Working With?
The first thing to consider is what type of audio you want to stream. Do you want to share music or the soundtrack of a video? Or are you planning on running a game stream so other gamers can watch you play?
Different audio sources each have their own requirements so you need to be sure you have the right tools to support them.
Where Are You Streaming it To?
The next thing to look at is where you want to stream your Mac’s audio to. Do you just want to send music to another room or device in your home? Or do you want to stream it across the internet for listeners around the world?
If you’re planning to stream over the internet, make sure your internet service provider (ISP) doesn’t restrict you from running a streaming server on your connection. Streaming can use a lot of bandwidth so you could run into hefty fees if you go over your monthly data limit.
Some ISPs might even limit streaming in their terms of service so make sure you read the fine print ahead of time. You wouldn’t want to get everything up and running only to have your ISP shut you down.
Copyright and DRM Considerations
Another important factor to keep in mind affects all streamers, not just Mac users — copyright limitations.
If you’re streaming audio over the internet so anyone can listen, make sure you don’t break any copyright laws. If you use commercial music or any other audio that’s copyrighted, your stream will likely get taken down. You could even face fines or other legal problems.
Digital rights management (DRM) also comes into play from the copyright perspective. Some audio sources, such as streaming services like Spotify and Netflix, protect their content with DRM that stops you from streaming it at all.
Why It’s Harder to Set Up Audio Streaming on a Mac
Most things are easier on a Mac compared to a Windows PC but audio streaming is a bit more complex.
The reason it’s not as simple on a Mac is that macOS doesn’t have any system-level audio routing built into the operating system. That means one app can’t access the audio stream from another app without extra software to connect the two.
You could set this up through hardware by using a microphone to capture the sound from your speakers but this can introduce a lot of background noise and other interference that will impact the sound quality.
The better way to set up your Mac for audio streaming is with an app or service designed to let different apps work together.
Apps and Services You Can Use to Share Audio
As streaming has become more and more popular, the Mac’s limitations have led to the introduction of several excellent streaming apps and services. Apple even has a streaming option built into the Mac, iOS devices, and Apple TV that let you stream audio across your local network.
AirPlay
AirPlay is Apple’s built-in streaming solution. It lets you send the audio from one device to another that’s on the same network and not too far away.
With AirPlay, you can play music or other audio files stored on your Mac through your Apple TV or HomePod speaker, for example.
AirPlay is easy to use but limited to local sharing among your own devices. It’s not a viable solution if you want to share audio with other people.
VLC Video Player and Soundflower
VLC is a popular video player that supports nearly every audio and video format ever made. Most people know it as a video player but it has a lot of powerful features under the hood, including the ability to stream audio.
The catch is, you need to install another app that lets VLC access the audio coming from the app you want to stream. A free app called Soundflower adds the ability to do this.
BlackHole
Blackhole is another free solution similar to Soundflower. It installs a “virtual driver” on your Mac that lets one application access another application’s audio.
With the ability to route audio between apps, you can use whatever streaming application you choose to share any audio that’s playing on your Mac.
But as we already mentioned, make sure you’re not breaking any laws by doing so.
Icecast
Icecast is a streaming media server that will stream audio and video over the internet. With one of the previous apps that let you route audio on your Mac, you can use Icecast to broadcast anything playing locally.
Icecast is a more complicated streaming solution than some of the other options on this list though. You’ll need to know a bit about the Mac Terminal and Unix command line to get it set up.
When you download Icecast, you get all the source files required to compile it yourself on your Mac. It’s designed to install on any Linux or Unix-based system, which includes macOS.
Get More Help With Using a Mac
If you’re looking for more advice than just how to stream audio from your Mac, Tech Sagar is here to help. We’ve got a large selection of how-to guides that will help you get the most out of your Mac and other electronics gear.
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