How-To

How to Fix YouTube Audio Renderer Error

By Brian Burgess

Updated October 17, 2023

You’re watching a YouTube video but there’s no audio because of a YouTube audio renderer error. Don’t panic, because you can fix it using this guide.

Are you seeing a YouTube audio renderer error while you’re watching videos on your PC? Or, are you wondering what does audio renderer error mean? You’ve come to the right place. The issue can usually be solved by reconnecting headphones or clearing your browser’s cache. However, the problem could go deeper—it could be related to hardware, device drivers, or other software conflicts on your system.

Unfortunately, this problem is reported to occur in most web browsers on Windows. If you want to know how to fix a YouTube audio renderer error, follow the steps below.

How to Quickly Fix a YouTube Audio Renderer Error

We’ll look at some straightforward steps you can take to resolve this error first.

First, begin troubleshooting by restarting your PC and see if that fixes the error. Also, try a different browser. For example, if you get the error while using Firefox, try Chrome or Edge instead.

Another fundamental step is reconnecting your headphones. Unplug your headphones and play a video through the PC’s speakers. If you don’t get the error, plug your headphones back in. Something as easy as that can fix the problem.

If you have more than one playback device, keep the default one plugged in, and disconnect the second playback device. Two devices can conflict and cause the error.

How to Clear Your Browser Data

Clearing your browser’s cache and cookies can fix a YouTube Audio Renderer error. Clearing data cache is a bit different for each browser. However, here we have instructions on the most popular browsers.

You can easily clear your Google Chrome cache files, Mozilla Firefox cache files, or Microsoft Edge cache files via your browser’s settings menu.

Run the Audio Troubleshooter

If you’re still getting the audio renderer error, you can run the audio troubleshooter on Windows to identify issues.

You can run the audio troubleshooter using the following steps:

1. Click Start and open Settings.
2. When Settings opens, navigate to System > Troubleshoot.
3. Now, scroll down to the Options section and click on Other Troubleshooters.
4. Next, run the Playing Audio troubleshooter and see if it finds any issues. 
5. If it does, follow the on-screen instructions to repair any underlying audio problems. Also, if you have multiple playback devices, make sure to select the correct one.

Disable and Reenable Sound Devices

Disabling and then reenabling the default audio playback device on your PC can fix a YouTube audio renderer error.

You can disable/enable sound devices by doing the following:

1. Right-click the Start button and select Device Manager from the menu.
2. When Device Manager opens, expand the Audio inputs and outputs section, right-click your audio device, and select Disable device.
3. Click Yes when the verification screen appears.
4. When it’s disabled, you’ll see a small notification icon. So, right-click the device again and select Enable device from the menu.

Roll Back a Device Driver

Did you recently get a driver update for your sound card, and the YouTube audio renderer error started? In that case, you can roll back the driver.

You can roll back a driver using the following steps:

1. Open Device Manager and expand Sound, video, and game controllers.
2. Right-click the sound card and click on Properties.
3. When the Properties screen appears, click the Driver tab and select the Roll Back Driver button. If you can’t roll back the driver, move to the next option.

Restart your system and see if that eliminates the audio renderer error.

Update Your Audio Driver

If you cannot roll back the sound card or playback device driver, try updating it instead. Updating the sound card or audio playback device driver is straightforward using the following steps:

1. For the audio playback device, open Device Manager and expand the Audio inputs and outputs
2. Right-click the default playback device and select Update driver.
3. For the sound card, expand the Sound, video and game controllers section.
4. Right-click the default sound card and click Update driver from the menu.
5. Click the option to have Windows Search automatically for drivers to apply the latest updates. If you downloaded a driver from the manufacturer’s support site, select Browse my computer for drivers to and install the driver manually.

Disable Hardware Acceleration

Modern browsers use the hardware acceleration feature to improve performance. However, the feature can cause more audio issues than it’s worth – especially on older systems.

To disable hardware acceleration in your browser, do the following:

1. For Google Chrome, open Settings, expand the Advanced menu, and choose System.
2. Under the System section, toggle off Use hardware acceleration when available. Relaunch Chrome and see if it resolves the error.
3. For Firefox, open Options and scroll down the General tab to the Performance section.
4. Uncheck Use recommended performance settings and uncheck the Use hardware acceleration when available Relaunch Firefox and see if it fixes the error.
5. For Microsoft Edge, open Settings and click System and performance in the left column.
6. Toggle off the Use hardware acceleration when available switch and restart Edge.

Fixing YouTube Audio

Using the steps above should fix the YouTube audio renderer error. Without the error popping up constantly on your Windows system, you’ll be able to enjoy your favorite YouTube videos.

YouTube has several interesting features, like picture-in-picture on Windows. If you’re a heavy YouTube user, you’ll want to manage your privacy settings. Don’t forget to reset your YouTube recommendations if they’re getting a little stale.