Audio Logs

The Witness has many mysterious Collectibles that include tiny Audio Logs scattered about the island.

The logs are often hard to find, located in small out of the way locations that may even be out of reach to the player - however you are able to interact with them at a distance so long as you can click on the log.

Below you will find a list of log locations, along with its codenames - sorted by area.

Entry Area - Entrance Roof


The doorway that introduces to you The Witness has a secret right above it! You won't be able to get here until you get past the main gate. After you get outside of the Entry Area you will be able to hug the left wall as you go up a hill until you find a gap to walk onto the top of the walls. Walk around until you're on the roof of the main entrance of the game. Here you will see a drink and some pillows. Under the yellow pillow is another tape!

Codename: dhamma_153

Entry Area - Main Gate


To find this audio tape, open the main gate in the Entry Area, and head down the path and hang a left to find a hill leading onto the Entry Area's ramparts. Take the left path along the ramparts until you are above the main gate, where you'll find the small log on the far side of the gate's top.

Codename: eddington_entering_a_room

Entry Area - Side Gate


This tape is behind a locked gate near the Entry Area, which you will need to unlock after unlock the main gate. Once done, return to the puzzle panel in one of the towers that had two solutions, and enable the other switch that leads out the back of the tower. Head around the fort to find a now unlocked wooden gate, and follow the trail looping around the walls to another door with a puzzle. On the other side of the door you'll find a broken wall and a tree, where the log is lying.

Codename: einstein_searchers

Entry Area - Before Glass Factory


Behind a set of puzzle in the entry area's second part, just before the glass factory, look behind to find this well hidden audio log.

Codename: heisenberg_on_pauli

Symmetry Island - Cliff facing Glass Factory


This one can be found on the island next to the Glass Factory, known as Symmetry Island. To get here you'll need to unlock the door to this island. Once you're through go down the stairs and around the island until you're looking back at the Glass Factory. You'll find some panels for a puzzle to solve, but right under them is your next audio log!

Codename: cusa_invisible

Symmetry Island - Upper Cliff


Another audio log found on Symmetry Island, it can only be obtained after going through both of the island's doors. After this you'll see a stairway to the top, but instead of going up you need to make a detour to the left. Walk along the side to reach a cliff with a tree that overlooks the ocean where you'll get a tape!

Codename: tashih_gate

Desert Ruins - Ruined Wall


Head past the main ruins to a small ruined wall on the far side by the coast (if you've completing the Desert Obelisk, that's where the enviromental puzzles 7 and 8 of side 4 are located). Climb to its top, past the big circle that reflects solar light, and look down to see the tape.

Codename: einstein_cosmic_religious_feeling

Quarry - Upper Level


Go inside the main building of the quarry, and get to the elevated scaffolding. Look at the statue closest to the stairs heading down, more specifically to its pedestal. You'll find another tape there.

Codename: kingsmill

Shady Trees - Ruined Container


Go to the forest between the quarry and the keep and approach the quarry's logging facility. As you get close to the window, you'll see on the left some gray rocks that form a path upwards. Climb it to find a ruined orange container. Enter it to find another tape on its upper side.

Codename: zen_points_beyond_language

Shady Trees - Laser Area


Go to the gated area where the laser is located. Look at the gate from inside to find another tape.

Codename: ryonen_autumn

Keep - Wall behind Hedge Mazes


Go up the stairs leading inside the keep and make a 180-degree turn to face the hedge mazes. Head straight past the mazes to reach a wall overlooking the monastery. Head left to find an area with a dropped pot, as well as another tape.

Codename: skinner_autonomy

Keep - Yellow Life-Size Panels (1)


When you enter the Keep you'll likely go straight for the hedge mazes, but if you stay straight through the arches you'll find an area full of statues and what appears to be a life-size puzzle that turns yellow as you walk over the parts. To the left of this puzzle is a statue of a guitarist. On top of his amp is a tape (unfortunately, it is not of his music).

Codename: tagore_boast

Keep - Yellow Life-Size Panels (2)


In the same area as the previous tape, you'll find a statue of a man sitting on a throne. Check its back side to find another tape.

Codename: hofstadter_activation

Keep - Between Purple & Green Life-Size Panels


After you finish the yellow life-size puzzle and the purple life-size puzzle you will go down a narrow passage that leads to the green life-size puzzle. On your way is a statue of a man holding two bags. Behind his legs is your treasure: an audio log.

Codename: clifford_busy

Shipwreck


Go to the wrecked ship behind the keep, and get inside the elevated cabin at the far of the ship. Check next to one of the broken control panels to find another tape.

Codename: clifford_shipowner

Tree House - Coast


As you take the boat to the Tree House Dock, look for a small rock jutting out nearby. You'll only be able to spot the tape from one side, so be quick or make sure the boat isn't going fast in order to catch it.

Codename: wordsworth_peak

Tree House - Dock


Head to the Tree House dock. Starting from the boat anchoring place, look for the part of the dock overlooking the shipwreck. You'll find another tape on a corner.

Codename: niffari_sea

Tree House - Green Bridge


In the Tree House you'll notice that there is a bridge made up of green panels that is superflous. You'll need to complete the bridge in order to get your audio log. When you reach the panel that lets you choose the direction, have the bridge extend to the right. This will take you to a side platform where you'll be able to see the log up in an unreachable portion of the Tree House.

Codename: gangaji_silence

Tree House - Shore


Head to the keep and take the path that leads underneath the Tree House. As you approach the shipwreck, you'll find a shore with some gray rocks. You'll find another tape on one of them.

Codename: brooke_the_dead

Swamp - Coast


As you take the boat from the swamp heading south towards the jungle, you'll notice on the west side as you approach the bunker a crashed boat near a rock. Stop the boat and examine the rock to see the tape.

Codename: chuang_tzu_boat

Swamp - Shore


Anchor the boat in the swamp and you'll see an intersection with three scaffoldings. Take the right scaffolding to find a rocky path. Follow it until you encounter an area overlooking the Tree House. You'll find there another tape on top of a rock.

Codename: eddington_humor

Swamp - Underwater Lair


Head to the rotating tram and use it to reach the purple platform. Enter the underwater lair there and you'll find inside another tape located behind a crystal box.

Codename: feynman_wine

Greenhouse - Hidden Floor


Enter the greenhouse and head to the elevator. Your objective is the floor with green light you can't normally access because of the broken wire: to reach it, make the elevator move so that it must cross that floor, and quickly move to the floor while the elevator is passing it (don't worry, the elevator will stop at the floor, even if it normally can't). The tape is on one of the corners.

Codename: eddington_eyes

Jungle - Entrance Path (1)


From the Monastery entrance you can make a right to go to the entrance of the Jungle. However, before you enter take a careful look at the rocks along the sides of the path. You'll find an audio tape on the left...

Codename: mitchell_ttc_11

Jungle - Entrance Path (2)


...and on the right as well! Both audio tapes are sitting in the entrance to the Jungle on the path that will take you to the Monastery Obelisk. What luck!

Codename: abbad_wine

Jungle - Laser Area


Go to the jungle laser and approach the opening overlooking the mountain. You'll find another tape on top of a rock.

Codename: feynman_uncertainty_of_science

Jungle - Beach


Go to the beach next to the jungle, where you can find the boat. You'll find another tape hidden between some small rocks.

Codename: eddington_generation_of_waves

Peninsula


On the Jungle's beach you'll find the Peninsula. Walk along the paths until you find a path that will take you to the center of the peninsula. You'll see some steps, a small building, and a statue inside. Instead of going in, look to your right. On the top of the wall will be your next audio log.

Codename: cusa_name

Monastery - Window


Inside the monastery, use the puzzle switch to open the windows with the environmental puzzles (those opposite the ones with the laser puzzles). Check the left one to find a tape among the openings.

Codename: arabi_veils

Town - Obelisk


In the Town, you can find an audio log by the Town Obelisk. This obelisk might be a bit hard to find because it is surrounded by a dark grey wall, but if you're near the harbor and walk up to the Town looking for this you'll find it in no time. Check behind the obelisk in the grass to get your tape.

Codename: einstein_library

Town - Bell Tower


In the Town, enter the ruined, light brown building. Go up the staircase on one of its sides until you reach the top. You'll see a bell there, examine it to see a nearby tape.

Codename: denck_nobody_finds

Town - Church (1)


In the Town, enter the ruined, light brown building. Near the puzzle similar to those from the monastery, under a window, you'll find...

Codename: feynman_atoms_with_curiosity

Town - Church (2)


...not one, but two tapes!

Codename: augustine_silence

Town - Reflective Panel


In the Town, head to the building which has on its top that reflective panel able to redirect the desert laser. Look down where facing the side overlooking the dock to find another tape.

Codename: cusa_clock

Mountain - Waterfall


Going up the Mountains will lead you to the Greenhouse with flowers of many colors. Keep going u until you're on top of that and head forward up the Mountain until you find a fallen tree you can walk across. Hug the left cliffside and keep going left and you'll discover a long path that will lead you to the top of the waterfall. On the rock in the middle of the rushing waters is your tape.

Codename: einstein_mystical

Mountain - Peak


Climb to the summit of the mountain and look for the statue of a person surveying the main site by the edge above the river below. You can find the log just behind the statue.

Codename: schweickart_eva

The End - Top Floor (1)


Once you're inside the mountain proper, you must go up the white staircase to where the control panel is. The tape is on a corner.

Codename: cusa_impossible

The End - Top Floor (2)


This tape is located is the central column, nestled among the trash. Check in the pile's back side (facing the exit and the room with the models).

Codename: skinner_reciprocal

The End - Top Floor (3)


Solve the puzzle with the purple beams of light in a way that allows you to reach the room with the models. The tape is inside a building model on a corner.

Codename: zen_physics_intellectual_catastrophe

The End - Middle Floor


Once you're on the middle floor, again you must go up the white staircase to where the control panel is. This time, the tape is hidden behind some panels near one of the walls.

Codename: cezanne_motif

The End - Bottom Floor (1)


Once you're on the bottom floor, go down the stairs and turn back to face the elevator you've just left. The tape is hidden under the steps.

Codename: jeans_eos_1

The End - Bottom Floor (2)


You'll soon reach a room with a statue and two timed, randomized puzzles. Facing the two puzzles, look the wall right and in front of you, with some yellow wire. You'll find another tape there, well hidden.

Codename: jeans_eos_2

Caves - Lower Cavern


As you enter the caves under the mountains, you'll soon encounter a large cavern. At the far end of the lower portion you'll find a tunnel glowing with blue light, with some rails on the ground. The tape lies at the end of those rails, just before some rocks.

Codename: sandwich

Caves - Cavern Stairs


As you explore the cavern, you'll find a room with puzzles on the floor, each centered with poles. Once past that room, you'll find some stairs leading to the upper portion of the cavern. As you start climbing the stairs, look at your right to find the tape.

Codename: authenticity

Caves - Upper Cavern


You'll eventually reach the uppermost portion of the cavern, which contains two alcoves, with green and orange tiles of puzzles respectively. The tape is hidden under some planks located between the two alcoves.

Codename: conference

Caves - Swamp Shorcut


Head to the upper side of the cavern elevator. There's nearby a double shortcut that leads to the swamp area. Climb up the stairs, on your left you'll soon see a small tree. Check down the roots to find another tape.

Codename: dreams

Caves - Challenge Area


As you enter the area with the music box, you'll see in the water two lights with a sharp-shaped rock between them. The tape lies hidden on top of the rock.

Codename: dirac

Caves - Town Shortcut


Once past the challenge area, you'll eventually find a passage overlooking the windmill theatre. Walk past it and you'll reach an intersection. Take the left path to reach a shortcut leading to the town. The final room before leaving the caves has a wagon, look under it to find another tape.

Codename: mine

Caves - Seventh Box Room


The final audio log is located in the room with the seventh box, the one that contains the code to lock again the entry area's gate. Just look under the box to find the log.

Codename: tagore_voyage