Has your Mac gone silent? Is there no sound coming from the internal speakers? When you press the volume controls (F11 and F12), do they appear to be greyed out or do you see a red next to the headphone jack? We have the answers.
How to fix Mac with general audio issues
The first thing you’ll want to do if the sound stops working is to restart your Mac. A quick power cycle can often fix nagging problems like this, but if it persists, start by trying to isolate the issue:
- Play something: To begin with, check if there is definitely no sound coming from your Mac by playing something in Music (Music replaced iTunes in macOS Catalina, so if you are in an older version of macOS, then you’ll want iTunes). Open Music, click on Songs and select any track in your music collection. After you have pressed Play you should see the bar progressing even if you can’t hear the music.
- Turn up the volume: Make sure the volume isn’t turned down or muted by pressing the Volume Up button, usually located on the F12 key in the top-right of your keyboard. When you tap this an overlay should appear on your screen and you should see an indication that the volume is increasing.
- Check the app: Some apps, such as Music, have dedicated volume sliders. Check to make sure it isn’t all the way to the left.
- Visit Control Center: If this doesn’t work then try clicking on the Volume option in the Menu bar at the top of the screen. If you are using Big Sur or Monterey this will be in the Control Panel section of the menu bar. Drag the sound slider to the right.
- Check a different app: It is possible that the sound is playing in Music, but not in Safari, this may be because the sound is turned off in Safari. If you are watching a video in Safari and there is no sound you will find sound controls in the video window so you should be able to adjust it there. The video may be muted by default, requiring you to choose to hear the sound.
- Turn your Mac off and on again: Even if you’re restarted recently, after changing some settings you can try restarting again to see if it solves the issue.
- Look for external devices: Check your headphone socket and make sure there are no earphones or speakers connected to the Mac or that your Mac has paired with a nearby set of AirPods or other earbuds. If they are remove them and you should hear sound playing through the Mac’s internal speakers.
- Check your ports: Disconnect anything that is plugged into your Mac—not just from the audio port as Thunderbolt, HDMI, and USB devices could be channeling the audio. If there is just a cable plugged into one of those ports remove that too.
- Check the headphone jack for debris: There may be something blocking the port, a bit of fluff or dust. (Some Macs show a red light next to the port to alert users.) If the port is blocked the Mac may be acting as if headphones are plugged in. Try blowing into the port to see if you can dislodge whatever it is. Then plug in some headphones while pressing and holding one of the volume buttons to see if that fixes the problem.
- Update your software: Check you are running the latest version of macOS available for your Mac.
- Restart the sound controller: Open Activity Monitor locate ‘coreaudiod’ in the list of processes, select it, and click on the X to quit that process. The process will restart straight away and in doing so may fix your problem.
- Check System Settings: Open System Settings (System Preferences on pre-Ventura Macs) and click Sound. Click the Output tab and click on Internal Speakers. Check that Mute next to Output Volume is not selected (there should be no tick in the checkbox). Make sure that the Output Volume slider is moved to the right.
- Check you internal speakers: If you see Digital Out instead of Internal Speakers in the window, disconnect anything that is plugged into your Mac (as above). If Internal Speakers still isn’t listed as an option in the Output window then you need to contact Apple Support for help.
- Reset the PRAM: This process can fix some sound-related issues. Restart the Mac while holding down Command, Option (or Alt), P, and R. Keep holding them down until the computer starts and chimes. Keep them held down until it chimes again, now release the keys. Note: This is only available on Intel Macs.
- Reset the System Management Controller (SMC): Like PRAM, resetting the SMC can also cure nagging issues. Note: This is only available on Intel Macs.
- If none of these solve the problem then consider taking your Mac to the Apple Store for service.
How to fix a Mac that won’t work with speakers or headphones
If you have an external speaker or headphones plugged into your Mac that has stopped working, try these steps:
- Unplug the speaker/headphones: Try connecting it to another device, such as an iPod touch or iPhone to see if it works.
- Plug the speaker/headphones back in: Sometimes all it takes is to unplug and plug in again to get things working.
- Check the headphone jack for a red light: On older Macs, there is an indicator to let you know if something is blocking the port. Try blowing into the port to see if you can dislodge whatever it is.
- Check the volume level: Some headphones and speakers have their own volume level, so make sure they’re not turned down low or muted.
- Check your ports: Disconnect anything else that is plugged into your Mac – not just from the audio port as Thunderbolt, HDMI, and USB devices could be channeling the audio away from the headphones or speakers. For example, if you have plugged your Mac into your TV via HDMI, and you are wondering why the speakers plugged into your Mac aren’t getting the audio, it’s because the sound is being routed to your TV.
- Check the source: If you want the sound to play through speakers plugged into your Mac while the pictures play on the TV screen you should be able to switch to your speakers by right-clicking on the audio icon in the menu bar at the top right of your Mac and selecting the speakers there.
- Restart the Mac: As always, a simple restart could do the trick your Mac can solve an issue like this.
- Restart the sound controller: Open Activity Monitor locate ‘coreaudiod’ in the list of processes, select it, and click on the X to quit that process. The process will restart straight away and in doing so may fix your problem.
- Update your software: Check you are running the latest version of macOS available for your Mac.
- If none of these solve the problem you may need to get the hardware checked out by Apple.
How to fix a Mac that won’t play sound through the TV
If you have connected your TV to your Mac via HDMI and sound isn’t transferring to the TV speakers, read on…
- Check System Settings: Open System Settings/Preferences and click Sound. Click the Output tab and if you’re trying to play sound from your connected TV, select the HDMI option. Alternatively, right-click on the sound icon in the menu bar and select the HDMI option.
- Check your equipment: While this is an unlikely scenario, note that while HDMI cables are capable of transferring audio as well as video. Some older equipment may not be able to receive audio.
- Change your HDMI cable: On newer devices, you may need a higher-speed HDMI cable to properly send audio and video to your television