Microphone Test

Microphone Tester - Test Your Mic Online Free

Test your microphone instantly with this free online tester. Confirm your mic is picking up sound, see the live waveform and frequency spectrum, record short clips, and download them to your device — all in your browser using the MediaDevices.getUserMedia API. No download, no account, and no audio ever leaves your machine.

Get Easily Started With Your Test

1. Click "Start Mic Test" to ask the browser for microphone permission.
2. Allow microphone access in the browser prompt that appears.
3. Speak or make a sound — the level meter, waveform, and frequency bars all respond when the mic picks up audio. If they do, your microphone works.

Optional: press Record to capture a clip, Stop Recording to end it, then Download to save the audio file.

Why Test Your Microphone Online

A microphone that worked yesterday can fail silently today — a driver update reorders input devices, a physical mute switch gets bumped, the OS privacy layer revokes permission, or an aftermarket pop filter loosens the XLR connection. Before a job interview, podcast recording, stream, or video call is a bad time to find out.

This tester uses the standard MediaDevices.getUserMedia API to capture the same audio stream any browser-based video-call app receives. If the mic works here, it will work in Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, Discord, Slack huddles, and any other WebRTC-based platform. If it does not work here, the issue is upstream of the video-calling software and fixing it once fixes it everywhere.

Common reasons to run a mic test:

• Pre-call checks — verify the mic, level, and device selection before an important meeting
• New microphone setup — confirm a new USB or XLR-interface mic is exposing itself correctly
• Post-driver-update verification — audio drivers often reset default-device assignments
• Troubleshooting low volume — the RMS/peak dB meter quantifies how quiet you are
• Diagnosing noise issues — the frequency view makes background hum (50/60 Hz), fan noise, and electrical interference visible
• Comparing multiple mics — switch between mic inputs and compare level and frequency response side by side
• Confirming mute toggle state — physical and software mute switches can be hard to spot; the meter flatlines instantly when muted

How to Test Your Microphone in 3 Simple Steps

Step 1: Click "Start Mic Test"

The button triggers navigator.mediaDevices.getUserMedia({ audio: true }), which asks the browser to request the microphone. Because this page is served over HTTPS, the browser will show a permission dialog the first time. Choose "Allow" to grant access.

If no prompt appears, permission was likely denied previously. Click the padlock icon in the address bar, find "Microphone," change it to "Allow" (or "Ask"), and reload the page. On macOS and iOS, also check System Settings > Privacy & Security > Microphone (macOS) or Settings > Safari/Chrome > Microphone (iOS). On Windows, Settings > Privacy & Security > Microphone controls app-level microphone access.

Step 2: Watch the visualiser

The visualiser has three stacked views that all animate in real time at 60 frames per second from a shared AnalyserNode:

• Level meter — a horizontal bar showing RMS (continuous level) and a peak indicator line. The scale is logarithmic in decibels: −60 dB at the left, 0 dB at the right. Green is below −20 dB, amber is −20 to −6 dB (a good speaking range), red is above −6 dB (approaching clipping).
• Waveform — the time-domain signal. A steady, symmetric oscillation indicates a clean pickup. Intermittent gaps or a signal that stays near zero when you speak means the mic is not receiving audio.
• Frequency bars — the FFT spectrum, low frequencies on the left, high frequencies on the right. Speech typically clusters around 85 Hz–255 Hz for male voices and 165 Hz–255 Hz for female voices with harmonics extending up to 4 kHz. A tall bar at the leftmost edge is usually 50/60 Hz mains hum.

Speak normally, clap your hands, or tap the mic. All three views should respond.

Step 3: Record, review, and download

Press "Record" to begin capturing audio using the browser's MediaRecorder API. Say a test phrase — common ones include "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog" for general testing, or "Sally sells sea shells by the sea shore" for sibilance and plosive checks. Press "Stop Recording" when finished.

The recording appears in the list below with an inline audio player. Listen back immediately to confirm both the mic and your playback chain are working. If the recording sounds correct, click "Download" to save the file to your device. Most browsers save as WebM/Opus (.webm); Safari saves as MP4/AAC (.m4a). Both formats are universally playable.

Recordings stay in your browser tab until you remove them or close the tab. Nothing is uploaded to any server.

Microphone Compatibility

Built-in Laptop Microphones

Every modern laptop exposes its built-in microphone array through the OS audio layer — MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, iMac, Mac Studio, Mac mini (with attached display audio), Dell XPS, HP Spectre, Lenovo ThinkPad, ASUS ZenBook, Microsoft Surface. The browser's getUserMedia call picks up the internal array automatically.

Modern laptops ship three- or four-microphone arrays that the OS combines into a single mono or stereo input with beamforming and noise reduction. The effective recording quality is very good for voice, but the built-in DSP can make the mic sound slightly processed compared to a dedicated USB mic. For podcasting or streaming, an external mic almost always sounds better.

USB Microphones

Standalone USB mics — Blue Yeti, Blue Snowball, HyperX QuadCast, Rode NT-USB, Shure MV7, Samson Q2U (USB side), Elgato Wave — all appear as standard USB audio-class devices. No vendor driver is needed for basic operation, though companion software (Logitech G Hub, Blue Sherpa, HyperX NGENUITY) may add gain adjustment, polar-pattern switching, and monitoring controls.

USB mics typically sample at 48 kHz or 44.1 kHz with 16- or 24-bit depth. The browser exposes the actual negotiated rate via AudioContext.sampleRate and displays it in the Mic Info panel.

XLR Microphones via Audio Interfaces

XLR microphones — Shure SM7B, Rode PodMic, Audio-Technica AT2020 (XLR), Neumann TLM 103 — require an audio interface (Focusrite Scarlett, MOTU M2, Universal Audio Volt) to convert the analog signal to USB digital. The interface appears to the OS as a USB audio device, and the selected input channel is what the browser captures.

If you are using an XLR mic and no level appears, verify:

• Phantom power — most condenser XLR mics need +48 V phantom power enabled on the interface's channel (dynamic mics like the SM7B do not)
• Input selection — multi-channel interfaces often default to Input 1; ensure your mic is plugged into Input 1 or that the OS is configured to pick the correct channel
• Gain knob — XLR mics typically need 30–50 dB of gain from the preamp; the SM7B specifically is famous for needing very high gain (60+ dB) or an inline preamp like the Cloudlifter

Bluetooth Headsets and Headset Microphones

Bluetooth headsets (AirPods, Jabra Evolve, Plantronics, Beats) all expose a microphone via the Bluetooth Hands-Free Profile (HFP) when used in call mode. Note that HFP downgrades audio quality significantly — both speakers and mic drop to 16 kHz mono (or 8 kHz on older devices) to fit inside the profile's limited bandwidth. This is why AirPods sound noticeably worse during calls than during music playback.

If your Bluetooth headset sounds unusually muffled in the recording, HFP mode is the likely cause. For better quality, switch to a wired headset or USB mic for recording.

What the Microphone Tester Checks

Signal Presence and Level

The primary check is whether the mic produces a signal at all. The RMS meter reflects average level; the peak meter reflects the loudest momentary sample. For normal speech:

• RMS −30 to −20 dB — too quiet; raise the mic gain in the OS or the interface
• RMS −20 to −12 dB — a good speaking level for most applications
• Peak −12 to −6 dB — headroom is healthy
• Peak approaching 0 dB — too loud; reduce gain, move back from the mic, or enable a limiter in the interface

Frequency Response

The FFT view shows which frequencies the mic is capturing. Useful things to check:

• A flat response across speech band (~100 Hz to 8 kHz) — confirms the mic is capturing voice normally
• A tall bar at 50/60 Hz — indicates mains hum, usually from a ground loop. Unplug nearby mains devices or use a ground-lift adapter
• A spike at ~120 Hz (in 60 Hz countries) or ~100 Hz (in 50 Hz countries) — the second harmonic of mains hum, indicative of the same problem
• High-frequency hiss — excessive gain or a very quiet mic being amplified past the noise floor; reduce gain and move closer to the mic

Device Selection and Switching

The device dropdown lists every audio input the OS exposes. Switching devices restarts the audio pipeline with the selected mic, so you can verify each one independently. This is useful for:

• Confirming a newly plugged mic shows up
• Comparing built-in vs USB vs XLR quality
• Verifying the OS default-input setting matches expectations

Record and Playback Round-Trip

The record/playback flow exercises the full chain: mic → OS audio driver → browser capture → MediaRecorder encode → blob → <audio> decode → playback device. If the mic captures correctly but playback sounds wrong, the problem is on the output side — speaker selection, system volume, or the application's audio routing.

Permission and OS-Level Mute

If the mic fails to start, the error message reports which underlying failure occurred:

• NotAllowedError — permission was denied (by you or by system policy)
• NotFoundError — no microphone was detected
• NotReadableError — another application has an exclusive hold on the mic
• SecurityError — the page is on an insecure connection

Even after permission is granted, the OS may still have the mic muted at the hardware level (headset physical mute switch, Fn-key mute, Windows "Microphone mute" keyboard shortcut). If the level meter is flat despite a successful permission grant, check for a physical mute before blaming the software.

Troubleshooting Common Microphone Problems

"Line is flat" — mic is active but no level

Check in order:

1. Physical mute switch — most headsets and many USB mics have a physical mute switch on the cable or body. A coloured LED usually indicates muted state
2. OS mute — Windows: right-click the speaker icon > Sounds > Recording tab > double-click your mic > Levels > ensure it is not muted and volume is up. macOS: System Settings > Sound > Input > check the Input volume slider and Input Source selection
3. Application-level mute — some browser versions display a microphone icon in the address bar with a mute state; check this is not enabled
4. Correct input selected — multi-channel interfaces can route to an unused input; confirm the device dropdown in this tester lists and selects your actual mic
5. Cable — on XLR rigs, try a known-good XLR cable. Silent cables are the single most common XLR issue
6. Phantom power — condenser XLR mics need +48 V from the interface; without it, they produce no output

Audio sounds distorted or clipped

The peak indicator goes red (above −6 dB) on nearly every sound. Fixes:

• Lower the preamp gain — on interfaces with a gain knob, reduce it until normal speaking peaks at around −12 dB
• Move further from the mic — doubling the distance roughly halves the level; 6–10 inches is typical for dynamic mics, 6–12 inches for condensers
• Use a pop filter or foam windscreen — plosives (B, P, T) produce transient peaks that clip even at moderate average levels
• Disable software "boost" — Windows often applies a +20 or +30 dB microphone boost in advanced device properties; this is usually too much and pushes speech into clipping

Low volume even at maximum gain

• Dynamic mics need more gain than condensers — the Shure SM7B specifically can need an inline preamp (Cloudlifter, FetHead) to reach useful levels on consumer interfaces
• Check for a gain pad switch on the mic — some large-diaphragm condensers have a −10 or −20 dB pad that can be accidentally engaged
• USB mic on a USB hub — some USB hubs under-power USB mics; connect directly to a motherboard port
• Disabled Microphone Boost in Windows — Control Panel > Sound > Recording > properties > Levels tab has a Boost slider (+0 to +30 dB) in addition to the main volume

Background hum or buzz

• 50/60 Hz hum — mains ground loop. Try: plug all audio gear into the same power strip, use a USB isolator if the interface is USB-powered, avoid running audio cables parallel to power cables
• High-pitched whine — often monitor backlight or GPU coil whine picked up through the mic. Move the mic further from the monitor and computer
• Intermittent crackling — USB bandwidth contention; disconnect other high-bandwidth USB devices (webcams, external SSDs, capture cards) from the same controller

Echo or double-voice in recordings

• Speakers leaking into the mic — use headphones for monitoring instead of speakers
• Browser echo cancellation disabled — most browsers apply echo cancellation by default, but aggressive voice-processing extensions can turn it off. Check the Mic Info panel; if "Echo cancellation" shows false, you may hear feedback
• Multiple audio instances active — if Zoom, Teams, and the browser are all capturing the mic simultaneously, their processing can interact oddly

Mic works in Zoom but not in the browser

• Different device selected — Zoom and other apps remember a per-app input device; ensure this tester and Zoom are both pointed at the same mic
• Windows per-app microphone permission — Windows Settings > Privacy & Security > Microphone lets you allow/deny specific apps; ensure your browser is allowed
• macOS per-app permission — System Settings > Privacy & Security > Microphone lists every app that has requested access; ensure the browser is toggled on

Privacy and Security

This tester runs entirely in your browser. No audio is sent to any server. No recordings are uploaded anywhere. The page never includes a network request that carries audio data. You can verify this by opening developer tools (F12 > Network tab) while recording — no audio payloads appear.

Every recording exists as a Blob inside this browser tab. Downloading it saves a copy to your local filesystem. Closing the tab or removing the recording releases the Blob and reclaims the memory. There is no server-side storage, no cloud sync, and no analytics collecting audio content.

The microphone indicator LED (on hardware that has one) is controlled by the operating system, not by the browser or this page. When the LED or the OS-level mic indicator is lit, the OS is confirming that a microphone stream is active. Clicking "Stop Mic Test" ends the stream immediately and the indicator extinguishes within a second.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does this mic tester work on any device?

It works on any device with a working microphone and a modern browser. That includes Windows desktops and laptops, Macs, Linux machines, Chromebooks, iPhones, iPads, and Android phones and tablets. The browser requirements are Chrome 60+, Firefox 55+, Safari 14.1+, or Edge 79+ — all current versions of every major browser support MediaDevices.getUserMedia and AudioContext.

The page must be served over HTTPS for microphone access to work. Non-secure http:// pages cannot request the mic in modern browsers.

What file format are recordings saved in?

The browser's MediaRecorder picks the best supported codec. In practice:

• Chrome, Edge, Opera, Brave — WebM container with Opus audio (audio/webm;codecs=opus)
• Firefox — WebM with Opus
• Safari — MP4 container with AAC audio (audio/mp4)

All of these formats are playable in every major OS media player without conversion. If you need a different format (MP3, WAV), convert the downloaded file using ffmpeg or a desktop audio editor like Audacity.

Can I record in higher quality?

The recording quality is limited by the browser's MediaRecorder default bitrate (typically 96–128 kbps for Opus, 128 kbps for AAC). This is more than enough for voice. For music or production-quality recording, a dedicated desktop DAW (Audacity, Reaper, Logic Pro) records at higher bitrates and gives you full control over codec and sample rate.

Why is the level meter not updating when I speak?

Check in order:

1. The mic is not muted (hardware or OS)
2. The correct input device is selected in the dropdown
3. You are speaking close enough — at arm's length with low gain, even a loud voice may not move the meter much
4. Permission was actually granted — if the browser's address-bar mic indicator does not show active, permission may have been denied without a prompt

Is my recorded audio sent to any server?

No. Every recording is a Blob held in this tab's memory. Downloading the blob saves a file to your local Downloads folder. Closing the tab releases the blob. There is no server-side storage, no cloud sync, no analytics on audio content, and no third-party access.

Can I test multiple microphones one after another?

Yes. Once the first mic is active, the device dropdown is populated with every audio input the OS exposes. Switching devices stops the current stream and starts a new one with the selected mic.

Can this tester measure latency?

Not end-to-end. The browser timestamps audio callbacks but does not expose the hardware-level capture timestamp, so the true mic-to-browser latency includes unmeasurable OS scheduling delay. For round-trip latency measurement (mic → processing → speaker), dedicated audio tools like REAPER's latency calibration or Apple's AudioTap are required.

Does the tester apply any processing to the audio?

Only what the browser applies by default for { audio: true } — echo cancellation, noise suppression, and automatic gain control, all of which are on by default in most browsers. The Mic Info panel shows the current state of each. To disable them programmatically you would need to pass explicit constraints to getUserMedia; the default settings here match what Zoom, Meet, and Teams use.

Why is the sample rate 48 kHz instead of 44.1 kHz?

Modern browsers and OS audio stacks default to 48 kHz, which is the sample rate used by almost all professional audio equipment since the late 1990s. 44.1 kHz was the CD standard and remains common for music distribution, but there is no practical quality difference for voice capture. The browser does not let a web page request a specific sample rate from the mic — it exposes whatever the hardware delivers.

Related Testing Tools

If you are preparing a complete setup, test each component in turn:

• Keyboard Test — Test every key on your keyboard, detect stuck keys, verify NKRO rollover, and see KeyboardEvent.code / KeyboardEvent.key values in real time.
• Mouse Test — Test every button and scroll wheel on your mouse, diagnose double-click failure, and capture MouseEvent and WheelEvent values.
• Webcam Test — Test your camera, preview live video, capture still photos, and download them without uploading anywhere.
• PS4 Controller Test — Test DualShock 4 buttons, analog sticks, triggers, and vibration via the HTML5 Gamepad API.
• PS5 Controller Test — Test the DualSense controller including all face buttons, triggers, touchpad, and haptic feedback detection.
• Xbox Controller Test — Test Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, and Xbox 360 controllers across all buttons, bumpers, triggers, and thumbsticks.

Before an important video call: run the webcam, mic, keyboard, and mouse testers in sequence. A couple of minutes catches permission issues, driver problems, and dead switches before they interrupt the call.