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How To Fix Bluetooth Audio Lag

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How to fix bluetooth lag

One of the most frustrating things EVER is watching a video on your computer or phone, and your Bluetooth headphones are lagging. If you're watching a music video, or God forbid a scary movie, the latency can be enough to make you want to throw your headphones against the wall.

We get it.

In fact, we get this question a lot. It is a very common issue, and luckily, it is one that can be solved in most cases with some quick troubleshooting.

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Initial Troubleshooting: 

Before you skip to one of the steps below, take a look at these initial troubleshooting tips. They could offer a quick fix to your problem. 

  • Ensure that the Bluetooth version on your audio device matches and is compatible with the Bluetooth version of your computer. For example, maybe your headphones can only handle Bluetooth 2.0, whereas your computer is expecting Bluetooth 4.0. The small bandwidth may not be able to deliver the high bit rate of the audio stream. In this case, you're most likely going to need a headphone upgrade, unfortunately. 
  • Make sure you're not low on battery. This sounds dumb, but you'd be surprised how many problems can be fixed with a full battery. If you're on your last 20% of battery life on your Bluetooth headphones, let them charge and try again in a bit.
  • Make sure you're within range. Lower-cost Bluetooth headphones may only have a range of 10-15 feet. If you're outside of this range, you're going to experience a plethora of issues ranging from latency to sporadic connectivity and more.
  • Turn off other Bluetooth devices in the area to reduce interference. If more than one device is trying to connect with your playback device, you can experience latency issues. Turn off any Bluetooth devices in the area to see if this helps. 

Fixing Bluetooth Latency

If the initial troubleshooting tips above didn't work, try some of the additional troubleshooting steps below to fix your latency issue. 

  • Disconnect and reconnect your Bluetooth device. Not to sound like the stereotypical IT department, but "turning it off and turning it back on again" seems to work in a lot of cases. If your setup simply needs to be reset, this is the solution that does the job most of the time. 
  • If you're on Windows, use the Audio Playback Troubleshooter. Sometimes running this can uncover issues you wouldn't otherwise catch. 
  • Update drivers. This is one of the most common issues with Bluetooth audio latency. Do a quick Google search for your headphones (or speakers) and find the most up to date drivers. If you need to, update.
  • Restart everything. Sometimes what you need is a hard reset. Try turning off everything you're working with and restarting it. If you have any updates that need to be done, make sure you do them. 

Still Need Help?

Bluetooth latency is a massive pain in the a**. If you're still having issues with latency after using this article to troubleshoot, leave us a comment below so we can help, free of charge!

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AUTHOR

Aina Harinder
Aina is an English major with a passion for writing and one of the newest members of the Headphone Critics team. Aina is an audio junkie, making her a great fit to help with product reviews and blog posts on the site.

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