Audio formats & silent channels
Some live channels use audio the built-in player can't decode. On desktop, the app can fix that on the fly without touching the video.
Why some channels have no sound
Some providers encode live channels with AC-3, E-AC-3, MP2, or DTS audio. Video plays fine, but the built-in player can’t decode these audio formats, so the stream is silent.
On Windows and Linux, the app can fix this: it re-encodes just the audio to a format the player can decode, through a bundled FFmpeg, while the video passes through untouched. There’s no quality loss on the video side and no re-encoding delay worth noticing.
The automatic fix
The first time you tune a channel like this, video starts playing silently. Within a moment, one of two things happens:
- If Fix unsupported audio automatically is on, the app fixes it for you - sound comes in a beat later, no action needed.
- If it’s off (the default), a toast and the failure panel offer a Fix audio button. Click it to restore sound.
Once a channel has been fixed this way, the app remembers it per playlist - the next time you tune that channel, it goes straight through the fix with sound from the start.
Choosing between audio tracks
Channels and VOD with several audio languages get an Audio menu right in the player’s control bar. Pick a track and the player switches over; if a VOD switch fails, playback returns to the original audio instead of stopping.
Settings > Watching > Playback
Open Settings > Watching > Playback to control the audio fix:
- Fix unsupported audio automatically - On or Off. Off by default, so you decide per channel via the Fix audio button.
- FFmpeg status - shows Ready with the version and where it came from (bundled, system, or custom), or FFmpeg not found if none is available.
- FFmpeg path - point the app at your own FFmpeg build with Browse, then Test to confirm it works. Leave it blank to use the bundled copy.
The app looks for FFmpeg in this order: your custom path first, then the bundled copy, then whatever ffmpeg is on your system PATH.
Platform support
| Platform | What happens |
|---|---|
| Windows desktop | Bundled FFmpeg fixes audio automatically or on request. |
| Linux desktop | Bundled FFmpeg (x86_64 builds; on ARM devices the app uses the system ffmpeg if one is installed) fixes audio automatically or on request. |
| macOS desktop | Usually not needed - the system already decodes these formats. The custom FFmpeg path is still available if you hit a channel that needs it. |
| Android | Not available - the app hands off to your native video player instead. See External players. |
| Web | Not available. |
When it’s not the audio
If a channel’s video won’t decode at all (not just the audio), fixing the audio won’t help - the answer is still an external player. See External players.