The Way We Were: Original Soundtrack Recording is the soundtrack album to the film of the same name by American vocalist and composer Barbra Streisand and Marvin Hamlisch, respectively. It was released by Columbia Records on January 1, 1974. The soundtrack comprises twelve songs, three of which are different versions of "The Way We Were" performed by Streisand. Critically, the staff behind AllMusic awarded the album three out of five stars. It fared well commercially, peaking at numbers 20 and 23 in the United States and Canada, respectively. It has since been certified Gold by the Recording Industry Association of America for sales exceeding 500,000 copies.

The soundtrack was executively produced by Freddie "Fred" Salem, while album track "The Way We Were" was produced by Marty Paich; the aforementioned track also featured additional songwriting from Marvin Hamlisch and Alan and Marilyn Bergman. All of the songs included on the soundtrack were previously used throughout the film's score, while "The Way We Were" is the only composition featuring lyrics; the single's lyrics detail the relationship of Katie Morosky and Hubbell Gardiner, whose personal life is documented throughout the film. Other songs on the album include Salem's productional covers of "Red Sails in the Sunset", "River, Stay 'Way from My Door", "In the Mood", and "Wrap Your Troubles in Dreams (And Dream Your Troubles Away)". Hamlisch and Salem also collaborated to create five brand new tracks: "Look What I've Got", "Like Pretty", "Katie", "Did You Know It Was Me?", and "Remembering".

Both the soundtrack and Streisand's The Way We Were were fronted by the commercial single release of the title song on September 27, 1973. The single was a huge success after its release, topping the charts in both the United States and Canada, and also reaching the top ten in Australia. Since considered one of Streisand's signature song, "The Way We Were" was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America, signifying sales of over 1,000,000 copies on August 19, 1997. Hamlisch and the Bergman's were widely praised for their work on both the title track, winning the Academy Award for Best Original Song at the 46th Academy Awards, with Hamlisch also winning the Academy Award for Best Original Score for his work on the film's score (which is featured on the soundtrack). "The Way We Were" also won the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song in 1974 and the Grammy Award for Song of the Year in 1975.

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