Although MacBooks have great built-in speakers, they’re still prone to audio issues. Some users report crackling sounds while listening to audio on their MacBooks, and if you’re one of them, here’s everything you can do to resolve it.
1. Boot Your Mac Into Safe Mode
We suggest using safe mode as the first step for diagnosing your audio crackling issues on your Mac. The basic idea behindbooting your MacBook into safe modeis that it runs your computer with minimum apps and specific optimizations, allowing you to figure out the problems with your app quickly.
So if you boot your computer into safe mode and the problem is resolved, it’s highly likely that some app caused it. This way, you’re able to uninstall apps you suspect to be behind this error individually and see if your MacBook plays audio without crackling afterward.
2. Update Your Mac and Apps
Updating your Mac and its appsis perhaps the most touted advice for fixing your MacBook errors. That’s because software updates usually bring bug fixes that might resolve most issues you face on a Mac.
In your case, a macOS update may fix any audio crackling issues caused by outdated software or possible bugs on your MacBook. To update macOS, go toSystem Settings > Generaland selectSoftware Updateon the right. As soon as you do this, your Mac will automatically look for any available updates.
Likewise, if you’re facing audio crackling issues within a specific app, try to see if a newer version of the app is available and update it. Unless you downloaded the app from the web, open theApp Storeapp and clickUpdatesin the left sidebar to check for available updates.
3. Ensure No Conflicts in Audio Devices
If you have installed multiple audio devices on your MacBook—USB, microphones, or even headphones—it would be best to remove them all one by one.
It’s sometimes possible to end up with problems due to simple conflicts between additional software or hardware on a computer. In fact, that may be the case here with the audio crackling issue on your MacBook as well.
4. Run Apple Diagnostics
Apple Diagnostics is a free tool from Apple that can check for hardware issues. So, in this case, using Apple Diagnostics will be extremely helpful to help you determine which component is at fault here.
Now, depending onwhether your Mac is powered by Intel or Apple silicon, you’ll have different ways to go about this.
On an Apple silicon Mac, follow these steps to run Apple Diagnostics:
On an Intel Mac, here’s what you need to do to run Apple Diagnostics:
When Apple Diagnostics launches, it will check your Mac for any hardware problems affecting the system and suggest solutions with reference codes and descriptions.
5. Check Your Sound Settings
Did you recently tweak your MacBook’s sound settings? Even if you didn’t make any changes, you’d be shocked to find that some third-party programs can fiddle with your sound settings—so watch out for those!
To check your sound settings on macOS, go toSystem Settings > Soundand see if anything has changed. Scroll down and lower theOutput Volumeslider and see if that alleviates your MacBook’s audio crackling issue.
You can also adjust theBalanceslider right below if one of your MacBook’s speakers is louder than the other.
6. Change the Sample Rate of Audio
While this is definitely not a one-size-fits-all solution, tweaking the sample rate audio may sometimes resolve your MacBook’s audio issues. So, follow these steps:
That’s it. If the audio crackling problem on your Mac appeared because of an unsupported sampling rate, it should be fixed now. After you have made the changes, play whatever you were playing before and see if you’re still facing the audio cracking sound on your MacBook.
7. Check for CPU Overload
If your Mac’s CPU is overloaded, it could lead to a heap of issues like low battery life (itself caused by excessive heating), poor performance because of general resource mismanagement, and, in some cases, even audio crackling issues.
This is why it’s important to check for CPU overloading from time to time (and terminate excessive tasks if that seems appropriate). Here’s how to do that:
As soon as you do this, you will instantly get a clear picture of all the processes that are currently running on your computer, along with the memory value they are eating up. Now, if you find too many useless processes are eating up your resources, it will be best to clear them.
To do that, simply double-click on an app and selectQuit. The app will be instantly terminated.
Repeat this process if you have other unnecessary processes and see if this has an effect on fixing the audio crackling sounds in your MacBook.
8. Reset Your Mac’s NVRAM
We suggestresetting your Mac’s NVRAM, as it stores important system settings, including volume settings, startup disk options, and more. Resetting it can help you fix any problems caused by software glitches, abrupt shutdowns, etc., and start afresh.
If you own an Apple silicon Mac (M1, M2, and M3), the NVRAM will be automatically reset when you reboot the system. However, if you own an Intel Mac, follow these steps:
The NVRAM will be reset on your next boot, and you should now be free from audio crackling issues on your Mac.
Resolving Your MacBook’s Audio Issues
We hope the troubleshooting steps listed above helped resolve audio crackling issues on your MacBook. However, if none of the potential fixes worked in your favor, we recommend visiting your nearest Apple Store. After all, it could be a hardware problem with the speakers, so getting your MacBook tested by a professional would be the right move.
