If you are presenting a slide deck during a Google Meet video call and want to show a YouTube video to the group, you might quickly realize that the participants can see the video perfectly, but they cannot hear any of the audio. By default, Google Meet only captures the audio from your physical microphone, completely ignoring internal system sounds to prevent echo loops.
To broadcast the high-quality audio directly from a video or a podcast playing inside your browser to everyone in the meeting, you must use a specific screen-sharing setting designed exclusively for Google Chrome tabs.
How to Share Tab Audio
Before you begin, ensure that the video or audio file you want to play is open in a separate Google Chrome tab, not a different application like VLC or Spotify.
- Join your Google Meet call as normal.
- Look at the control bar at the bottom center of the Meet window. Click the icon that looks like a Square with an upward-pointing arrow (the “Present now” button).
- A menu will pop up with three choices: “Your entire screen,” “A window,” and “A tab.”
- Crucial Step: You must select A tab. (Sharing your entire screen or a window will explicitly block audio transmission).
- A new menu will appear displaying a list of every open tab in your Chrome browser. Select the specific tab containing your video.
- Look at the very bottom-left corner of this pop-up menu. Ensure the checkbox labeled Share tab audio is checked. (It usually is by default, but always verify).
- Click the blue Share button.
You will automatically be switched to the tab you selected. A blue rectangle will outline the tab, and a banner at the top will confirm that you are sharing this tab with Google Meet.
When you press play on the video, the audio will bypass your physical microphone and stream directly through Chrome’s internal servers to the other participants, resulting in crystal-clear, perfectly synced audio.