You can record a two-hour lecture in Chrome and keep every minute of it. ClearRec records your microphone from Chrome’s side panel. It has no time limit, and it saves the audio every second. If the browser closes halfway through, the recording is still there. I would still ask the lecturer before you press record. That part is up to you, not the software.

These steps follow the ClearRec page as of November 2026. It is free. There is no account, no watermark and no ads.

Before the lecture starts

  1. Add ClearRec to Chrome. It works in Chrome and on Chromebooks.
  2. Open it in Chrome’s side panel.
  3. Pick your microphone. ClearRec works with any microphone. A mic closer to the speaker will usually pick up more than the one built into a laptop at the back of the room.
  4. Choose Voice mode. It turns on noise suppression, echo cancellation and auto-gain, which suits one person talking in a big room. Music mode gives you raw audio instead.
  5. Say a few words and watch the live level meter. If it barely moves, sit closer or try another microphone.

While you record

  1. Press record when the lecture begins.
  2. Pause during a break and resume when the talk starts again.
  3. Take notes in another tab if you like. ClearRec keeps recording while you browse, and it keeps going if you close the panel.

With no time limit, a long seminar or a double session is fine. Audio is saved every second, so a crash never costs you a recording. A closed browser keeps it too. You can relax about the laptop running for a long time.

Save the file

  1. Stop the recording at the end of the lecture.
  2. Choose MP3 or WAV. One click saves it to your Downloads folder.
  3. Rename the file with the course name and date right away. A folder full of files with nearly the same names gets confusing by week three.

Both formats are there, so pick the one your notes app, player or audio editor expects.

Where the audio lives

Until you save it, the recording is stored only in your browser. Nothing is uploaded. There is no account and no tracking. That is good for privacy. It also means the only copy is on that computer until you save it. Once the file is in Downloads, back it up wherever you keep your course material.

When ClearRec is the wrong tool

ClearRec records a microphone. If the lecture is online and you want the sound coming out of a browser tab, the ClearRec page does not describe that. You would need a different tool for it.

The page also says nothing about transcripts or summaries. If you need the lecture as written text, plan for a separate step after you save the audio.

A short checklist

  • Side panel open, microphone picked, Voice mode on.
  • Level meter moving when the speaker talks.
  • Pause at the break, resume after.
  • Save as MP3 or WAV, rename, back it up.

That is the whole routine. It takes a minute before class and a minute after.

Add ClearRec to Chrome