YouTube has become an integral part of our online life; more than 5 billion videos are watched on YouTube every day. If you’ve faced the Audio renderer error in your Windows 10 PC while playing videos on YouTube, you are not alone. Several Windows users around the globe encountered this awful error and had no clue what’s happening. The error on the screen says “Audio renderer error. Please restart your computer”, but restarting your PC is not a permanent fix for this error. We have made a list of easy ways to fix the audio renderer error and you can try the following methods one by one.
6 Ways to fix audio renderer error
1. Reboot the system.
As the Audio renderer error message suggests, the first and basic fix is to restart the PC but many Windows users reported it as a temporary fix only. The audio renderer error reappears after playing a few more videos and it is annoying. You can attempt a system reboot but if the error is repeated, it’s time to dive deep into the system settings. The following methods are tested by us and found effective by many of our followers. If you are looking for a permanent fix for this error, let’s move to the next method.
2. Reconnect all the audio devices.
Before attempting any settings changes just reconnect all the audio devices connected to your system. It may sound simple but it may fix the audio renderer forever. Disconnect all the wired headphones, USB speakers, and other audio devices and plug them back in. It is observed that, if you connect two or more audio devices to your Windows PC, the chances for the audio renderer error is much higher. Keep only the main audio device connected to your PC to avoid the audio renderer error.
3. Troubleshoot the Audio settings
You can take the help of in-built windows audio troubleshooter to fix the audio renderer error on YouTube. The system will scan for the possible settings conflicts and guide you to make the necessary changes. Here are the steps you need to follow.
Step 1: Open the Windows settings from the Start menu and click on the Troubleshoot option on the left side.
Step 2: From the Troubleshoot menu, locate the Playing Audio option and click on Run the troubleshooter.
Step 3: Follow the recommended steps by the Windows troubleshooter and check the audio renderer error is fixed or not.
4. Update the Audio drivers of your PC
Outdated audio drivers may be the reason for the YouTube Audio renderer error and you can fix it by updating the audio drivers of your system to the latest version.
There are multiple methods to update your drivers but we recommend using the integrated Windows Device Manager.
Step 1: Launch the Run application by pressing Windows+R keys together.
Step 2: Type devmgmt.msc and click OK to open the Device Manager.
Step 3: Select the Sound, video, and game controllers’ option by clicking on the arrow icon.
Step 4: Right-click on the audio driver and select Update Driver.
Step 5: Select Search automatically for updated driver software in the next window to complete the process. The device manager will share if any new updates are available for your drivers and you can download them directly.
5. Rollback the Audio driver to a previous version.
If you are facing the audio renderer error after updating the audio driver then we advise you to reconfigure the driver to a previous version. You can execute this rollback easily by following the below steps.
Step 1: Open the device manager by typing devmgmt.msc in the Run window.
Step 2: Select the Sound, video, and game controllers option by clicking on the arrow icon.
Step 3: Right-click on the audio driver and select the properties option.
Step 4: From the properties menu, select the Driver tab.
Step 5: Scroll down to find the Roll Back Driver option. Click on it.
Pro tip: If the Roll Back Driver option is not enabled by the system then you can select the Uninstall Device option. This will completely remove the driver from the system. After uninstalling, reboot the PC and Windows will automatically download the latest version of the Audio driver.
6. Update the Web browser and disable hardware acceleration.
If you’re using an outdated version of Chrome or any other web browser, it may be the reason for the YouTube Audio renderer error. Update the browser from the settings menu and relaunch the YouTube website.
The hardware acceleration settings allow web browsers to speed up the performance but this feature affects the audio player and sometimes causes the audio renderer error. Here are the steps you need to follow to disable hardware acceleration in popular browsers.
Google Chrome:
Step 1: Open the settings from the Google Chrome menu.
Step 2: Select the Advanced option from the bottom of the screen.
Step 3: In the advanced settings menu, find the Use hardware acceleration when available option. Turn off this feature and relaunch the YouTube tab.
Firefox:
Step 1: Open the settings from the Firefox menu.
Step 2: Open the Performance section.
Step 3: Uncheck the Use hardware acceleration when available option.
After changing the browser settings, reboot your system and check the Audio renderer error is fixed or not.
We believe the above methods will fix the YouTube Audio Renderer error in your Windows 10 PC and you can get back to watching your favorite videos seamlessly. If you’ve come across any other effective method to fix this error, do let us know in the comment box.
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