How to change the audio in VLC?

ByJael Lawler

VLC media player is a popular, free and open source multimedia player that can play a wide variety of audio and video formats. First released in 2001, VLC has grown to have a large market share among media players, with over 3 billion downloads across various platforms according to VideoLAN download statistics.

VLC provides users extensive control over audio settings and effects. Users may want to adjust these settings for different reasons – to increase/decrease volume, enable audio enhancements like equalizer and special effects, change audio device, adjust audio delay, select different audio tracks, or restore defaults.

Prerequisites

Before you can change the audio in VLC media player, you need to have it installed and set up on your computer. VLC media player is a free, open source, cross-platform multimedia player that supports a wide range of audio and video formats. It is available for Windows, Mac, Linux, Android, iOS and other platforms.

To install VLC media player on Windows, go to https://www.videolan.org/vlc/download-windows.html and click the download button for the latest Windows installer. Run the installer and follow the setup wizard. On Mac, go to the Mac App Store and search for VLC to download and install it. For other platforms, visit https://www.videolan.org/vlc/#download to get installation instructions and download links.

Once VLC media player is installed, launch the application. You may want to spend some time getting familiar with the interface and testing that you can successfully play audio and video files. With VLC media player running smoothly, you are now ready to customize the audio settings covered in the sections below.

Access Audio Settings

To adjust the audio settings in VLC media player, you first need to access the Audio menu in VLC’s Preferences. Here are the steps:

1. Open VLC media player on your computer.

2. Click on Tools at the top of the player window.

3. Select Preferences from the drop down menu.

4. This will open the Preferences window. Click on the Audio tab at the top.

This will display all of the available audio settings you can adjust in VLC. From here, you can change the volume, enable the equalizer, select different audio devices, adjust audio effects, and more.[1]

Change Volume

The easiest way to change the volume in VLC media player is to use the volume slider in the lower left corner of the app window. Simply click and drag the slider left or right to lower or raise the volume level. You can also click on the volume icon to mute and unmute the audio.

For more precise volume control, you can type in the desired percentage directly in the input box next to the volume slider. The acceptable range is from 0% for mute up to 400% for amplified volume. The default starting volume is usually around 75-80%.1 100% is typically recommended for desktop computer speakers.2

Take care not to set the volume too high to avoid damage to speakers or your hearing. A good rule of thumb is to increase volume gradually until reaching a comfortable listening level, then leave it there.1 For reference, 60-85 decibels is considered typical for computer audio output.3

Enable Equalizer

The equalizer allows you to adjust the audio frequency levels in VLC media player. To enable the equalizer:

  1. Go to Tools > Effects and Filters in the VLC menu bar.
  2. Check the “Enable equalizer” box. This will activate the equalizer bands you can adjust.

According to VLC.verg.ca, enabling the equalizer in VLC allows you to access preset equalizer configurations as well as manually adjust specific frequency bands.

Select Audio Device

VLC lets you choose between different audio output devices on your computer from within the audio settings. This allows you to control whether audio plays through your speakers, headphones, HDMI port, or other connected devices. Here are the steps to select an audio device in VLC:

1. Go to Tools > Preferences (Ctrl + P on Windows/Linux or Cmd + , on Mac) to open VLC’s preferences.

2. Go to the Audio section.

3. In the ‘Audio device’ dropdown, you will see a list of available audio devices connected to your computer. These may include your built-in speakers, headphones, HDMI ports, Bluetooth devices, and more.

4. Choose the audio device you want VLC to use for playback. This will become VLC’s new default audio output.

5. Click Save to apply the change.

Now when you play media in VLC, audio will be routed to the selected device. You can come back to this menu at any time to change the audio output as needed.

For more control, you can set different devices for different types of audio streams. For example, you could set VLC to use your speakers for stereo audio but HDMI for 5.1 surround sound.

Adjust Audio Effects

VLC media player has several built-in audio effects that can be applied to enhance or alter the sound output. Some of the key effects to adjust include:

Compressor – Reduces the dynamic range between the loudest and softest sounds. This makes quiet sounds louder and loud sounds quieter. Adjust the threshold and ratio settings to control how much compression is applied.

Spatializer – Simulates a multi-speaker listening environment using stereo headphones. Adjust the room size and width settings for different ambiance effects.

Equalizer – Boosts or cuts specific frequency ranges. Customize the EQ bands to highlight treble, bass or midrange tones as desired.

Reverb – Simulates sound bouncing off walls and surfaces. Adjust the reverb time and high frequency damping for more or less echo.

Other effects like chorus, flanger and distortion can be enabled and tweaked as well for creative sound alterations.

Applying audio effects appropriately can enhance the listening experience. However, moderation is advised as overprocessing can negatively impact sound quality.

Set Audio Track

For videos with multiple audio tracks, such as different languages or audio commentaries, you can select your preferred audio track in VLC. This allows you to change the audio being played without affecting the video.

To set the audio track in VLC:

  1. Open the video file in VLC media player.
  2. Click on the Audio menu at the top and select Audio Track.
  3. This will open a list of all available audio tracks in the video.
  4. Click on your preferred language or audio track.
  5. VLC will switch to playing that audio track while retaining the video.

The ability to select audio tracks is especially useful for videos with multiple language options or separate commentary tracks. It allows you to dynamically change the audio being played without needing to switch between different video files. VLC makes it easy to choose your preferred audio experience.

Multitrack recording, which allows capturing multiple audio tracks separately, enabled having different audio tracks in videos like alternate languages and commentaries (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multitrack_recording). VLC leverages these separate audio tracks to provide users control over which one they want to listen to.

Change Audio Sync

If the audio and video are out of sync in VLC media player, you can adjust the “Audio desynchronization compensation” setting to resynchronize them. This allows you to apply a delay to the audio to match up with the video playback.

To change the audio sync in VLC, follow these steps:

  1. Open VLC and go to Tools > Preferences (Ctrl + P on PC, or cmd + , on Mac)
  2. Go to the Audio tab
  3. Under “Audio desynchronization compensation”, enter a value in milliseconds to adjust the audio delay[1]
  4. Positive values will delay the audio, while negative values will speed up the audio
  5. Start with small adjustments like 50ms at a time until the audio sync is fixed

The “Audio desynchronization compensation” setting essentially shifts the audio track timeline separately from the video to resync them. This is an easy way to fix lip sync and general audio lag issues in VLC without impacting playback performance.

Restore Defaults

If you want to reset any changes made to the VLC audio settings back to the default configuration, you can restore the defaults. This will revert settings like volume, equalizer, audio device, effects, etc. back to how VLC is set up initially.

To restore default audio settings in VLC:

  1. Open VLC and click Tools > Preferences.
  2. Click on Audio.
  3. At the bottom of the Audio settings window, click the Reset button.
  4. A prompt will appear asking if you want to reset the audio settings. Click Yes.

VLC will now reset any customized audio configurations back to the default. This can be useful if you want to undo any changes and start fresh with the audio options.

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