Windows’ sound and voice recording app has long been very basic, but Windows 11’s updated recording app adds some new nice-to-have features. For starters, it’s now called Sound Recorder, replacing the Voice Recorder moniker in previous Windows versions. It’s more than a name change, too. The app, though still simple, gets a new look in addition to new features.
Microsoft announced the Sound Recorder app last month, and it’s currently still in preview. But there’s a good chance it will be updated before the next big Windows version coming in the fall, just as the Media Player app was. Until then, here's a quick spin around the new sound-recording app.
A New Look
As you can see, the new Sound Recorder app looks markedly different than the previous Voice Recorder app:
For comparison, here’s how bare-bones the Windows 10 Voice Recorder app interface is:
The new app also offers a light mode, shown below.
Getting Started With Sound Recorder in Windows 11
As with Windows 11’s new Media Player app, if you type in the old app name, in this case “Voice Recorder,” the new one, Sound Recorder, opens and updates itself. (The Media Player behaves similarly when you type “Groove” in the Start menu.) You can also find the app in the Microsoft Store, though oddly under the old Voice Recorder name. I expect the Store team will update that at some point.
After the app update, you need to allow it permission to use your system’s microphone. On one test system I had to enable a microphone in the main Settings before getting to this point. Go to the Sound settings, find Voice Recorder among the allowed apps, and tap its On switch.
What New Features Are in Sound Recorder?
The new Sound Recorder sports the updated Windows 11 icons and design language. The most obvious new element is the graphical waveform that appears as you record and play audio. You can now place markers on the waveform to show places of interest in the recording. The red lines in the screenshot below are markers. The waveform always fits the windows, so you don’t have to scroll off the window to see material farther out, but that also means you can’t zoom in on a section.
You can also now choose from multiple microphones, where the old Voice Recorder only used the default Windows device, as shown below. If I’d had any other mics plugged in, they’d show up in the options.
Another new feature is the ability to change the playback speed. You have choices ranging from a quarter speed to four times the original speed.
The new app lets you open sound files, even if you didn’t record them using Sound Recorder. You can rename them, but you can't convert their format and quality.
Sound Recorder Output Formats
Sound Recorder offers a surprising number of audio file formats for you to save your work in, from the standard MP3, AAC, WMA all the way up to the lossless FLAC and WAV formats. You can also choose the audio quality, with options for Auto, Best (highest quality, larger file size), High (recommended), and Medium (smaller file size). Unfortunately, you can’t decide to switch these settings on the fly, but instead they’re applied to all your recordings as you record them and not to any sound files you’ve merely opened in the app.
Sharing Your Recordings
Finally, the app lets you share your sound recordings via email, through Nearby sharing to another PC, or to any other app that accepts the format used, with the standard Windows share panel.
What’s Missing in Sound Recorder?
One big feature that was available in the Windows 10 Voice Recorder app is gone from the new Sound Recorder: the ability to trim recordings. Hopefully, Microsoft will bring back this crucial capability at some point with an update, or possibly even before the app is distributed widely to Windows 11 users.
Like its predecessor, Sound Recorder is a simple app to record something in a pinch when you don’t want to bother installing full-feature audio software. One more powerful option is the free, open-source Audacity, which offers multitrack recording, loads of effects, and a plethora of file formats.
For more coverage of Microsoft’s new desktop operating system, be sure to visit our Windows 11 page.