Dive into the technical aspects of audio on your device, including codecs, format support, and customization options.

Audio Documentation

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AVPlayerView with .inline controlsStyle macOS 26
My audio app shows a control bar at the bottom of the window. The controls show nicely, but there is a black "slab" appearing behind the inline controls, the same size as the playerView. Setting the player view background color does nothing: playerView.wantsLayer = true playerView.layer?.backgroundColor = NSColor.clear.cgColor How can I clear the background? If I use .floating controlsStyle, I don't get the background "slab".
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142
Oct ’25
AirPods with H2 and studio-quality recording - how to replicate Camera video capture
Using an iPhone Pro 12 running iOS 26.0.1, with AirPods Pro 3. Camera app does capture video with what seems to be "Studio Quality Recording". Am trying to replicate that SQR with my own Camera like app, and while I can pull audio in from the APP3 mic, and my video capture app is recording a 48,000Hz high-bitrate video, the audio still sounds non-SQR. I'm seeing bluetoothA2DP , bluetoothLE , bluetoothHFP as portType, and not sure if SQR depends on one of those? Is there sample code demonstrating a SQR capture? Nevermind video and camera, just audio even? Also, I don't understand what SQR is doing between the APP3 and the iPhone. What codec is that? What bitrate is that? If I capture video using Capture and inspect the audio stream I see mono 74.14 kbit/s MPEG-4 AAC, 48000 Hz. But I assume that's been recompressed and not really giving me any insight into the APP3 H2 transmission?
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105
Oct ’25
Failure on attempt to import track as spatial audio
I'm working on a project to support spatial audio editing, using this sample project as a reference: https://developer.apple.com/documentation/Cinematic/editing-spatial-audio-with-an-audio-mix This sample works well on an unedited capture, but does not work for a capture that has already been edited. The failure is occurring at "let audioInfo = try await CNAssetSpatialAudioInfo(asset: myAsset)", which is throwing "no eligible audio tracks in asset". I also find that for already edited captures, if i use CNAssetSpatialAudioInfo.assetContainsSpatialAudio, it returns false. What i mean by "already edited" is that if I take a spatial capture with my iPhone 16, and then edit that capture in the Photos app using the Cinematic effect, and then save the edited output (e.g. edited_capture.mov), I can't import that edited_capture.mov into my project as a spatial audio asset. Is this intentional behavior or a bug? If it's intentional, can you describe why?
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149
Sep ’25
Lock screen media controls for MusicKit/ ApplicationMusicPlayer
Hi, when using ApplicationMusicPlayer from MusicKit my app automatically gets the media controls on the lock screen: Play/ Pause, Skip Buttons, Playback Position etc. I would like to customize these. Tried a bunch of things, e.g. using MPRemoteCommandCenter. So far I haven't had any success. Does anyone know how I can customize the media controls of ApplicationMusicPlayer. Thank you.
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468
Sep ’25
[iOS 26 bug] AVInputPickerInteraction selection immediately reverts on iOS 26
Hello everyone, I'm implementing the new AVInputPickerInteraction API on iOS 26 to allow users to select their microphone from a custom settings menu before recording. The implementation seems correct, but I'm encountering a strange issue where the input selection immediately reverts to the previous device. The Situation: The picker is presented correctly via a manual call to .present(). I can see all available inputs (e.g., "iPhone Microphone" and "AirPods"). The current input is "iPhone Microphone". I tap on "AirPods". The UI updates to show "AirPods" as selected for a fraction of a second, then immediately jumps back to "iPhone Microphone". The same thing happens in reverse. It seems like the system is automatically reverting the audio route change requested by the picker. My Implementation: My setup follows the standard pattern discussed in the WWDC sessions. Setup Code: This setup is performed once before the user can trigger the picker. @available(iOS 26.0, *) var inputPickerInteraction: AVInputPickerInteraction? // Note: The AVAudioSession is configured to .playAndRecord // and set to active elsewhere in the code before this setup is called. if #available(iOS 26.0, *) { // Setup the picker let picker = AVInputPickerInteraction() self.inputPickerInteraction = picker self.view.addInteraction(picker) // Added to establish context } Presentation Code: When a user selects "Change Input" from my custom settings menu, I call .present() on the main thread. // In a delegate method from a custom menu if #available(iOS 26.0, *) { DispatchQueue.main.async { self.inputPickerInteraction?.present(animated: true) } } What I've already checked: The AVAudioSession is active and its category is .playAndRecord. The inputPickerInteraction object is not nil. The .present() method is being called on the main thread. The picker is added to a view using view.addInteraction() in the setup phase. I've reviewed my code to ensure there is no other logic that could be manually resetting the AVAudioSession's preferred input. Has anyone else experienced this behavior? I suspect this might be a bug in the new API, but I want to make sure I'm not missing a crucial step in managing the AVAudioSession state. Any insights or potential workarounds would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.
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189
Sep ’25
Windows Apple Music: how to enumerate the local library or export it? Is Library.musicdb documented / API available?
Environment Windows 11 [edition/build]: [e.g., 23H2, 22631.x] Apple Music for Windows version: [e.g., 1.x.x from Microsoft Store] Library folder: C:\Users<user>\Music\Apple Music\Apple Music Library.musiclibrary Summary I need a supported way to programmatically enumerate the local Apple Music library on Windows (track file paths, playlists, etc.) for reconciliation with the on-disk Media folder. On macOS this used to be straightforward via scripting/export; on Windows I can’t find an equivalent. What I’m seeing in the library bundle Library.musicdb → not SQLite. First 4 bytes: 68 66 6D 61 ("hfma"). Library Preferences.musicdb → also starts with "hfma". artwork.sqlite → SQLite but appears to be artwork cache only (no track file paths). Extras.itdb → has SQLite format 3 header but (from a quick scan) not seeing track locations. Genius.itdb → not a SQLite database on this machine. What I’ve tried Attempted to open Library.musicdb with SQLite providers → error: “file is not a database.” Binary/string scans (ASCII, UTF-16LE/BE, null-stripped) of Library.musicdb → did not reveal file paths or obvious plist/XML/JSON blobs. The Windows Apple Music UI doesn’t appear to expose “Export Library / Export Playlist” like legacy iTunes did, and I can’t find a public API for local library enumeration on Windows. What I’m trying to accomplish Read local track entries (absolute or relative paths), detect broken links, and reconcile against the Media folder. A read-only solution is fine; I do not need to modify the library. Questions for Apple Is the Library.musicdb file format documented anywhere, or is there a supported SDK/API to enumerate the local library on Windows? Is there a supported export mechanism (CLI, UI, or API) on Windows Apple Music to dump the local library and/or playlists (XML/CSV/JSON)? Is there a Windows-specific equivalent to the old iTunes COM automation or any MusicKit surface that can return local library items (not streaming catalog) and their file locations? If none of the above exist today, is there a recommended workaround from Apple for library reconciliation on Windows (e.g., documented support for importing M3U/M3U8 to rebuild the local library from disk)? Are there any plans/timeline for adding Windows feature parity with iTunes/Music on macOS for exporting or scripting the local library? Why this matters For large personal libraries, users occasionally end up with orphaned files on disk or broken links in the app. Without an export or API, it’s difficult to audit and fix at scale on Windows. Reference details (in case it helps triage) Library.musicdb header bytes: 68-66-6D-61-A0-00-00-00-10-26-34-00-15-00-01-00 (ASCII shows hfma…). artwork.sqlite is readable but doesn’t contain track file paths (appears limited to artwork). I can supply a minimal repro tool and logs if that’s helpful. Feature request (if no current API) Add an official Export Library/Playlists action on Windows Apple Music, or Provide a read-only Windows API (or schema doc) that surfaces track file locations and playlist membership from the local library. Thanks in advance for any guidance or pointers to docs I might have missed.
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177
Sep ’25
Destroy MIDIUMPMutableEndpoint again?
Is there a way to destroy MIDIUMPMutableEndpoint again? In my app, the user has a setting to enable and disable MIDI 2.0. If MIDI 2.0 should not be supported (or if iOS version < 18), it creates a virtual destination and a virtual source. And if MIDI 2.0 should be enabled, it instead creates a MIDIUMPMutableEndpoint, which itself creates the virtual destination and source automatically. So here is my problem: I didn't find any way to destroy the MIDIUMPMutableEndpoint again. There is a method to disable it (setEnabled:NO), but that doesn't destroy or hide the virtual destination and source. So when the user turns MIDI 2.0 support off, I will have two virtual destinations and sources, and cannot get rid of the 2.0 ones. What is the correct way to get rid of the MIDIUMPMutableEndpoint once it is created?
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56
Sep ’25
Improving Speech Analyzer Transcription for technical terms
I am developing an app with transcription and I am exploring ways to improve the transcription from the SpeechAnalyzer/Transcriber for technical terms. SFSpeech... recognition had the capability of being augmented by contextualStrings. Does something similar exist for SpeechAnalyzer/Transcriber? If so please point me towards the documentation and any sample code that may exist for this. If there are other options, please let me know.
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226
Sep ’25
Convert CoreAudio AudioObjectID to IOUSB LocationID
Is there a recommended way on macOS 26 Tahoe to take a CoreAudio AudioObjectID and use it to lookup the underlying USB LocationID? I previously used AudioObjectID to query the corresponding DeviceUID with kAudioDevicePropertyDeviceUID. Then I queried for the IOService matching kIOAudioEngineClassName with property kIOAudioEngineGlobalUniqueIDKey matching DeviceUID, and I loaded kUSBDevicePropertyLocationID from the result. This fails on macOS 26, because the IO Registry for the device has an entry for usbaudiod rather than AppleUSBAudioEngine, and usbaudiod does not include a kIOAudioEngineGlobalUniqueIDKey property (or any other property to map it to a CoreAudio DeviceUID). My use-case here is a piece of audio recording software that allows configuring a set of supported audio devices via USB HID prior to recording. I present the user with a list of CoreAudio devices to use, but without a way to lookup the underlying USB LocationID, I cannot guarantee that the configured device matches the selected device (e.g. if the user plugged in two identical microphones).
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506
Sep ’25
AudioQueue Output fails playing audio almost immediately?
On macOS Sequoia, I'm having the hardest time getting this basic audio output to work correctly. I'm compiling in XCode using C99, and when I run this, I get audio for a split second, and then nothing, indefinitely. Any ideas what could be going wrong? Here's a minimum code example to demonstrate: #include &lt;AudioToolbox/AudioToolbox.h&gt; #include &lt;stdint.h&gt; #define RENDER_BUFFER_COUNT 2 #define RENDER_FRAMES_PER_BUFFER 128 // mono linear PCM audio data at 48kHz #define RENDER_SAMPLE_RATE 48000 #define RENDER_CHANNEL_COUNT 1 #define RENDER_BUFFER_BYTE_COUNT (RENDER_FRAMES_PER_BUFFER * RENDER_CHANNEL_COUNT * sizeof(f32)) void RenderAudioSaw(float* outBuffer, uint32_t frameCount, uint32_t channelCount) { static bool isInverted = false; float scalar = isInverted ? -1.f : 1.f; for (uint32_t frame = 0; frame &lt; frameCount; ++frame) { for (uint32_t channel = 0; channel &lt; channelCount; ++channel) { // series of ramps, alternating up and down. outBuffer[frame * channelCount + channel] = 0.1f * scalar * ((float)frame / frameCount); } } isInverted = !isInverted; } AudioStreamBasicDescription coreAudioDesc = { 0 }; AudioQueueRef coreAudioQueue = NULL; AudioQueueBufferRef coreAudioBuffers[RENDER_BUFFER_COUNT] = { NULL }; void coreAudioCallback(void* unused, AudioQueueRef queue, AudioQueueBufferRef buffer) { // 0's here indicate no fancy packet magic AudioQueueEnqueueBuffer(queue, buffer, 0, 0); } int main(void) { const UInt32 BytesPerSample = sizeof(float); coreAudioDesc.mSampleRate = RENDER_SAMPLE_RATE; coreAudioDesc.mFormatID = kAudioFormatLinearPCM; coreAudioDesc.mFormatFlags = kLinearPCMFormatFlagIsFloat | kLinearPCMFormatFlagIsPacked; coreAudioDesc.mBytesPerPacket = RENDER_CHANNEL_COUNT * BytesPerSample; coreAudioDesc.mFramesPerPacket = 1; coreAudioDesc.mBytesPerFrame = RENDER_CHANNEL_COUNT * BytesPerSample; coreAudioDesc.mChannelsPerFrame = RENDER_CHANNEL_COUNT; coreAudioDesc.mBitsPerChannel = BytesPerSample * 8; coreAudioQueue = NULL; OSStatus result; // most of the 0 and NULL params here are for compressed sound formats etc. result = AudioQueueNewOutput(&amp;coreAudioDesc, &amp;coreAudioCallback, NULL, 0, 0, 0, &amp;coreAudioQueue); if (result != noErr) { assert(false == "AudioQueueNewOutput failed!"); abort(); } for (int i = 0; i &lt; RENDER_BUFFER_COUNT; ++i) { uint32_t bufferSize = coreAudioDesc.mBytesPerFrame * RENDER_FRAMES_PER_BUFFER; result = AudioQueueAllocateBuffer(coreAudioQueue, bufferSize, &amp;(coreAudioBuffers[i])); if (result != noErr) { assert(false == "AudioQueueAllocateBuffer failed!"); abort(); } } for (int i = 0; i &lt; RENDER_BUFFER_COUNT; ++i) { RenderAudioSaw(coreAudioBuffers[i]-&gt;mAudioData, RENDER_FRAMES_PER_BUFFER, RENDER_CHANNEL_COUNT); coreAudioBuffers[i]-&gt;mAudioDataByteSize = coreAudioBuffers[i]-&gt;mAudioDataBytesCapacity; AudioQueueEnqueueBuffer(coreAudioQueue, coreAudioBuffers[i], 0, 0); } AudioQueueStart(coreAudioQueue, NULL); sleep(10); // some time to hear the audio AudioQueueStop(coreAudioQueue, true); AudioQueueDispose(coreAudioQueue, true); return 0; }
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420
Sep ’25
AVAudioSession.outputVolume not reporting correctly in iOS 18+ devices
I’m using the shared instance of AVAudioSession. After activating it with .setActive(true), I observe the outputVolume, and it correctly reports the device’s volume. However, after deactivating the session using .setActive(false), changing the volume, and then reactivating it again, the outputVolume returns the previous volume (before deactivation), not the current device volume. The correct volume is only reported after the user manually changes it again using physical buttons or Control Center, which triggers the observer. What I need is a way to retrieve the actual current device volume immediately after reactivating the audio session, even on the second and subsequent activations. Disabling and re-enabling the audio session is essential to how my application functions. I’ve tested this behavior with my colleagues, and the issue is consistently reproducible on iOS 18.0.1, iOS 18.1, iOS 18.3, iOS 18.5 and iOS 18.6.2. On devices running iOS 17.6.1 and iOS 16.0.3, outputVolume correctly reflects the current volume immediately after calling .setActive(true) multiple times.
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174
Sep ’25
dlsym cannot find symbol g_dwILResult when debugging an audio plugin
I am trying to debug the AAX version of my plugin (MIDI effect) on Pro Tools, but I am getting the following error (Mac console) when attempting to load it: dlsym cannot find symbol g_dwILResult in CFBundle etc.. I used Xcode 16.4 to build the plugin. Has anybody come across the same or a similar message? Best, Achillefs Axart Labs
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494
Sep ’25
Play Audio and Recognize Speech in Car
Hello, I'm trying to determine the best/recommended AVAudioSession configuration (i.e category, mode, and options) for the following use-case. Essentially, I'd like to switch between periods of playing an audio file and then recognizing speech. The audio file is typically speech and I don't intend for playback and speech recognition to occur simultaneously. I'd like for the user to sill be able to interact with Siri and I'd like for it to work with CarPlay where navigation prompts can occur. I would assume the category to use is 'playAndRecord', but I'm not sure if it's better to just set that once for the entire lifecycle, or set to 'playback' for audio file playback and then switch to 'playAndRecord' for speech recognition . I'm also not sure on the best 'mode' and 'options' to set. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks.
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484
Sep ’25
How to get PID from AudioObjectID on macOS pre Sonoma
3 I am working on an application to get when input audio device is being used. Basically I want to know the application using the microphone (built-in or external) This app runs on macOS. For Mac versions starting from Sonoma I can use this code: int getAudioProcessPID(AudioObjectID process) { pid_t pid; if (@available(macOS 14.0, *)) { constexpr AudioObjectPropertyAddress prop { kAudioProcessPropertyPID, kAudioObjectPropertyScopeGlobal, kAudioObjectPropertyElementMain }; UInt32 dataSize = sizeof(pid); OSStatus error = AudioObjectGetPropertyData(process, &amp;prop, 0, nullptr, &amp;dataSize, &amp;pid); if (error != noErr) { return -1; } } else { // Pre sonoma code goes here } return pid; } which works. However, kAudioProcessPropertyPID was added in macOS SDK 14.0. Does anyone know how to achieve the same functionality on previous versions?
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260
Sep ’25
Why does AVAudioRecorder show 8 kHz when iPhone hardware is 48 kHz?
Hi everyone, I’m testing audio recording on an iPhone 15 Plus using AVFoundation. Here’s a simplified version of my setup: let settings: [String: Any] = [ AVFormatIDKey: Int(kAudioFormatLinearPCM), AVSampleRateKey: 8000, AVNumberOfChannelsKey: 1, AVLinearPCMBitDepthKey: 16, AVLinearPCMIsFloatKey: false ] audioRecorder = try AVAudioRecorder(url: fileURL, settings: settings) audioRecorder?.record() When I check the recorded file’s sample rate, it logs: Actual sample rate: 8000.0 However, when I inspect the hardware sample rate: try session.setCategory(.playAndRecord, mode: .default) try session.setActive(true) print("Hardware sample rate:", session.sampleRate) I consistently get: `Hardware sample rate: 48000.0 My questions are: Is the iPhone mic actually capturing at 8 kHz, or is it recording at 48 kHz and then downsampling to 8 kHz internally? Is there any way to force the hardware to record natively at 8 kHz? If not, what’s the recommended approach for telephony-quality audio (true 8 kHz) on iOS devices? Thanks in advance for your guidance!
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212
Sep ’25
Potential Documentation Error in kAudioAggregateDevicePropertyTapList Sample Code
Hi, I believe I've found a potential error in the sample code on the documentation page for creating and using a process tap with an aggregate device. The issue is in the section explaining how to add a tap to the aggregate device. I have already filed a Feedback Assistant ticket on this (ID: FB17411663) but haven't heard back for months. Capturing system audio with Core Audio taps The sample code for modifying the kAudioAggregateDevicePropertyTapList incorrectly uses the tapID as the target AudioObjectID when calling AudioObjectSetPropertyData. // (Code to get the list and potentially modify listAsArray) if var listAsArray = list as? [CFString] { // ... (modification logic) ... // Set the list back on the aggregate device. <--- The comment is correct list = listAsArray as CFArray _ = withUnsafeMutablePointer(to: &list) { list in // INCORRECT: This call uses tapID as the target object. AudioObjectSetPropertyData(tapID, &propertyAddress, 0, nil, propertySize, list) } } The kAudioAggregateDevicePropertyTapList is a property that belongs to the aggregate device, not the individual tap. Therefore, to set this property, the AudioObjectSetPropertyData function must target the AudioObjectID of the aggregate device itself. Using tapID as the first argument is logically incorrect for this operation and will not update the aggregate device as intended. Furthermore, the preceding AudioObjectGetPropertyData call to fetch the list also appears to use the incorrect tapID as its target in the sample. The AudioObjectID for both getting and setting this property should be the ID of the aggregate device. _ = AudioObjectGetPropertyData(aggregateDeviceID, &propertyAddress, 0, nil, &propertySize, &list) _ = AudioObjectSetPropertyData(aggregateDeviceID, &propertyAddress, 0, nil, propertySize, newList) Thank you!
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305
Sep ’25
Homepod Crossfade
I’m running HomePod OS 26 on two HomePod minis and OS 18.6 on main HomePod (original) I’ve enabled Crossfade in the Home app. I’m playing Apple Music directly in the HomePod mini. Crossfade just doesn’t work on any HomePod. I can understand it not working on the HomePod - but why isn’t it working on the minis running OS 26? I’ve tried disabling and enabling Crossfade, rebooting HomePods etc but nothing?!
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262
Aug ’25
Number of songs in the Apple Music Feed
Hello, I'm evaluating the Apple Music Feed dataset and I noticed that the total number of songs available in the feed is too small. As of today, the number of objects returned in each feed is: 51,198,712 albums 23,093,698 artists 173,235,315 songs This gives an average of 3.38 songs per album which is quite low. Also, iterating on the data I see that there are albums referencing songs that don't exist in the songs feed. I would like to know: Is the feed data incomplete? If so, in what situations an object may be missing from the feed? Thank you in advance!
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243
Aug ’25
Audio driver based on AudioDriverKit sometimes hangs after sleep
Dear Sirs, I’ve written a virtual audio driver based on AudioDriverKit and running as dext in my MacOS app. Sometimes when waking up from a sleep state the recording side of my driver extension seems to hang and I don’t see any calls to my io_operation callback. Then the recording app like a DAW seems to hang when trying to start a recording. This doesn’t happen after short sleep states or after a complete new start of my MacBook. I already opened a case in Feedback-Assistant on 5th of May (FB17503622) which also includes a sysdiagnose and a ktrace but I didn't get any feedback so far. Meanwhile some of our customers are getting angry and I'd like to know if there's anything I could do to fix this problem on my side. We’re not sure whether this worked in previous MacOS versions, we think we didn’t observe this before 15.3.1 but at least since 15.3.1. we’ve seen this problem. Best regards, Johannes
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108
Aug ’25