No sound on Mac
Last updated: 2026-08-24
Run the speaker test above before changing any settings. It plays each side on its own, which separates three different faults that all feel like no sound.
Nothing at all means your Mac is sending audio somewhere else. Start at step 1.
One side only means balance or a failed driver. Skip to step 4.
Both sides work here but not in one app means that app has its own problem. Skip to step 6.
1. Option click the volume icon
This is the fastest check on a Mac and most people do not know it exists.
Hold Option and click the volume icon in the menu bar. A full list of input and output devices appears instantly, with the current one marked. You can switch straight from that menu.
Without Option it just shows a slider. With Option it becomes a device switcher. This turns a two minute trip through System Settings into one click.
If the volume icon is missing from your menu bar, open System Settings, then Control Center, and set Sound to always show in the menu bar.
2. Your monitor probably took the output
This is the most common cause on any Mac connected to an external display.
USB C, Thunderbolt, and HDMI all carry audio as well as video. When you connect a monitor, macOS often decides that monitor is the new output. If the monitor has no speakers, or has speakers you never use, you get silence with the volume slider working normally and no error anywhere.
It usually happens after connecting a display, after waking from sleep, or after a macOS update.
Option click the volume icon and look at what is selected. If it is your monitor, switch back to the built in speakers.
You can also check in System Settings, then Sound, then the Output tab. Speak or play something and watch the level meter next to each device. The one that moves is where your audio is going.
3. Bluetooth is holding the output
If AirPods or a Bluetooth speaker are paired and within range, macOS can route audio to them even when they are in a drawer or a bag.
Option click the volume icon. If a Bluetooth device is selected, switch back. If it keeps happening, turn Bluetooth off while you work at the desk.
4. Check the balance slider
If one side is silent, this is almost always why.
Open System Settings, then Sound, then the Output tab. Select your output device and look at the Balance slider underneath.
It drifts. A stray trackpad gesture moves it, and some apps change it. Once it sits at one end, one speaker goes quiet and everything else looks completely normal.
Drag it back to centre. There is no marker, so look for the point where it snaps.
5. Restart the audio process
Occasionally the audio system itself hangs. The signs are a volume slider that does nothing, output devices that vanish from the list, or sound that stopped after the Mac woke from sleep.
Restarting the audio process fixes this and takes a few seconds. Open Terminal and run:
sudo killall coreaudiodEnter your password when asked. Nothing appears to happen. The process restarts on its own within a second or two, and sound usually returns immediately.
This is much faster than rebooting and it is safe. Any audio playing at that moment stops, so pause anything important first.
6. One app is silent, everything else works
macOS has no per app volume mixer, which is a real difference from Windows and it catches people who have switched over.
That means the problem is inside the app, not in macOS. Open the app’s own audio settings and check two things: its output device selection, and its internal volume.
Discord, Zoom, OBS, Spotify, and most games each keep their own device setting, and it very often still points at something you unplugged weeks ago. Set it to your actual speakers rather than leaving it on Default.
Browsers also mute individual tabs. Look for a small speaker icon on the tab itself and click it.
7. Check the sound effects volume separately
macOS keeps a separate volume for alert sounds. In System Settings, then Sound, there is an Alert volume slider under the Sound Effects section.
If notification sounds are silent but music plays fine, that slider is the reason. It is easy to turn down by accident and it is nowhere near the main volume control.
8. Check the headphone jack
If your Mac has a headphone jack and it thinks something is plugged in, it will send all audio there and leave the speakers silent.
Plug headphones in and pull them out again a few times. A stuck detection switch usually clears with that. Look into the jack with a light as well, since debris pushed in from a pocket holds the switch down.
When nothing works
Test with headphones or an external speaker. If those play sound and the built in speakers do not, the speakers or the amplifier have failed.
Also try booting into Safe Mode and playing something. On Apple Silicon, shut down, then hold the power button until startup options appear and choose Safe Mode. If sound works there, a login item or a third party audio tool is the cause. Loopback, Soundflower, BlackHole, and similar virtual audio drivers are common culprits, especially after a macOS upgrade.