Settings/System/Audio
Settings | System | Audio |
This page contains the options and settings to ensure your audio device functions correctly with Kodi. The settings chosen here can have a big impact on CPU load on lower powered hardware, so it is worth the time to understand the available options and how they should be configured.
The options shown in the images are from a Windows 10 HTPC and may differ from other hardware platforms. Some options change depending on whether an WASAPI or Direct Sound driver is selected in the Output selector.
If this is your first time adjusting the Audio Settings you may like to use the Audio Quick Start Guide.
- See Also: Audio
- See Also: Audio Engine
Audio Decoder
Select your Audio device and configure it to match your audio system.
Audio output device
Settings level: | Basic |
Description: | Select the device to be used for playback of decoded audio. Selecting this option will call up a list of all available options. You should check your Hardwares and Operating System Audio Guides to ensure you select the one most suitable for Kodi. |
See Also: | Windows Audio Driver Setup |
See Also: | Linux Audio Driver Setup |
See Also: | Pulse Audio Driver Setup |
Number of channels
Settings level: | Basic |
Description: | Select the number of channels supported by the audio connection, or the number of speakers if connected by analogue connections. This setting does not apply to passthrough audio. Note: S/PDIF supports 2.0 channels only but can still output multichannel audio using a format supported by passthrough. |
See Also: | Dummies Guide to Kodi Audio Settings |
Output configuration
Settings level: | Advanced |
Description: | Set the properties of the audio output. Available options are as follows:
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See Also: | Dummies Guide to Kodi Audio Settings |
Volume control steps
Settings level: | Standard |
Description: | Set the number of steps when using the volume. This is the number of button presses to go from mute to full volume. Higher numbers for finer volume adjustments. |
See Also: | Dummies Guide to Kodi Audio Settings |
Maintain original volume on downmix
Settings level: | Advanced |
Description: | Downmixing combines the Left, Right, Center, Left surround, and Right surround channels to drive stereo or mono speakers. Select how audio is downmixed. eg from 5.1 to 2.0
Note: Dynamic range is the difference between the quitest and loudest sounds. Enable this if you find that the movie dialogues are very low. |
See Also: | Dummies Guide to Kodi Audio Settings |
Resample quality
Settings level: | Advanced |
Description: | Select the quality of resampling for cases where the audio output needs to be at a different sampling rate from that used by the source. Available options are...
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See Also: | Dummies Guide to Kodi Audio Settings |
Threshold for pitch correction
Settings level: | Expert |
Description: | When the speed change exceeds this threshold, a pitch correction filter will be applied to reduce the "chipmonk" effect of voices. This can occur when using 1.5x playback speed. Can be set from 0 to 100 |
See Also: | Dummies Guide to Kodi Audio Settings |
Keep audio device alive
Settings level: | Advanced |
Description: | Select the behaviour when no sound is required for either playback or GUI Sounds. Available options are...
Note: Sounds can be missed if the system is slow in waking. |
See Also: | Dummies Guide to Kodi Audio Settings |
Send low volume noise
Settings level: | Advanced |
Description: | To keep AV Receivers awake, an inaudible random noise signal is sent. This setting can be disabled when using headphones or analogue outputs. |
GUI Sounds
This section deals with feedback and confirmation sounds created by the Kodi user interface.
Play GUI sounds
Settings level: | Basic |
Description: | Configure when you want to hear the sounds. Available options are...
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GUI sounds
Settings level: | Basic |
Description: | Select the preferred sound theme. More are available for download. |
Audio Passthrough
When playing a movie or tv show, Kodi will decode the audio stream and send the audio to the respective channels and speakers. When using Audio Passthrough, Kodi does not decode the audio stream, rather it will send the original audio stream to the AV Receiver to be decoded by the Receiver.
To use this option, you must have passthrough capable hardware and an AV Receiver capable of decoding some or all of the formats listed below. Formats that the Receiver cannot decode will be decoded by the Kodi Audio Output Decoder.
If you have a quality AV Receiver, Audio Passthrough should be used.
Note:
Do not enable a codec type in the capable receiver section if the AV Receiver does not support that codec. Doing so will result in poor playback of video typically with very low frames-per-second video and no audio. For example enabling TrueHD capable receiver option on an older receiver that does not support this audio codec.
If connected directly to a TV be aware that TV's are not compatible with DTS, TrueHD or DTS-HD. Typically AC3 is the only encoded format a TV will be compatible with.
Allow Passthrough
Settings level: | Standard |
Description: | Select to allow passthrough audio for playback of compressed audio such as Dolby Digital (AC3), DTS, etc. The Client of the AudioEngine might decide to decode the audio stream under certain conditions.
Note: When the setting Sync Playback to Display is enabled, it will disable Passthrough. Both settings cannot be enabled at the same time. |
See Also: | Dummies Guide to Kodi Audio Settings |
Passthrough output device
Settings level: | Standard |
Description: | Select the device to be used for passthrough of the encoded formats. Windows users must use WASAPI. Passthrough is not available for DirectSound.
The following codecs can be passed through and should be set in accordance with the capabilities of the AV Receiver:
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See Also: | Dummies Guide to Kodi Audio Settings |
Audio DSP
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