Audio Not Working in Discord
Since the early days of high-speed internet, VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) has been a popular way for PC gamers to communicate with each other. While Skype, Ventrilo, Mumble, and TeamSpeak used to be popular – a newer application has recently dominated the market. With its number of integrations, easy-to-use interface, and greatest of all, no server costs for users – Discord has become the #1 voice chat app for gamers to communicate via Text and Voice.
However, as with any application, you can encounter bugs. There are a number of somewhat common issues with Discord audio – but they’re all pretty easy to fix.
- Mic input not working
- Audio output not working
- Wrong device outputting the audio
Check Discord’s Server Status
You can check Discord’s uptime on their Status site: https://status.discordapp.com/
If you see outages, your audio or connection may not be working properly. There’s nothing you can do here but wait until the servers come back online.
Check Your Sound Device settings
Are your speakers, headphones, or microphones active in Windows settings? It may seem like an obvious answer, but sometimes they can be disabled or unplugged, causing Discord to not recognize them. Once they’re working in Windows Sound Settings, check to see if they’re receiving input in other applications, relaunch Discord, and try again.
Check connections
Discord input and output sometimes will mute or deafens itself when the connection is slow. Check your connection in the bottom left of the Discord window to see if you have the all clear
Set to default and then configure default in windows settings
For some reason, in Discord, sometimes changing the device back and forth between Default and the selected device to see if it starts working. Try this with your input and output devices.
Check to see if you’re muted/deafened
This may seem simple, but sometimes toggling mute on and off will fix being muted. The same goes for deafened status.
Check to see if you’ve muted the application in sound settings
Sometimes, you may mute the application, which won’t give you any indication when you’re inside of it. Check your windows sound settings in your toolbar, go to mixer, and see if Discord is muted.
Update the application
While discord normally auto-updates, you can download the newest version by going to https://discordapp.com/download
Restart PC
If you really can’t get Discord’s audio working, you might just need to restart the whole computer. When in doubt, start the whole thing over!
Update Your Audio Drivers
While it’s unlikely that your audio would stop working because of an update, it’s possible. Check to make sure you have the most recently updated drivers for your:
- Sound card
- Motherboard
- USB Controllers (usually included in motherboard)
- Headset
- USB microphones
- Audio interfaces
This makes sure your devices stay compatible with Discord and Windows!