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The delay/lag is killer. Netflix, Prime, out of sync lip movement with audio.
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You can install Linux on exactly the same hardware and use the same Bluetooth headphones or earbuds and it completely fixes the delay/lag of up to 500ms. This is not a device or hardware issue.
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Please note this is not a tech support post. It is a discussion about the lack of progress in fixing this issue.
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In a forum post on this from 2016, the post has 1042 votes by people with the same issue: “I have the same question (1042)”. It carried on until sometime in 2020 before it was locked. The issue itself was not fixed & remains for many in Windows 10 & 11.
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What do you all think about the fact this issue still hasn’t been fixed?
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I want to say that I am a massive fan of Windows. 7 was a masterpiece, 10 was a revolution. It is the great equaliser. Can everyone afford a Mac or run Linux? No. But anyone can run Windows. The issue is, it’s losing some of that efficient powerful function it had during 7.
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Bluetooth is so infamously broken on Windows that gaming wireless headphone makers for PC sell headphones with their own USB transmitters and proprietary stuff to avoid the lag. They use keywords “eliminate delays” “eliminates lag”. People are using TWS buds with android gaming mode also to get around Windows lag in all scenarios, it’s only meant for lag with gaming. On windows it must be used just to watch a film with no audio delay. Windows does this so badly an entire industry is running around it. You won’t get lag or delay like this on iOS, you won’t get lag like this on Linux, you won’t get lag like this on Mac, you won’t even get lag as bad as this on cheap Android phones - the lag android users complain about is lower than Win11 lag. Maybe 100-150 ms.
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I spent all day Sunday trying lots of fixes suggested online:
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A small amount of quietly raved about doing these, and after i did all that, what did it achieve? Little. Audio still out of sync with lips on TV and Movie shows on my laptop.
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And it’s not just delayed audio. Windows lags so badly with Bluetooth devices that people complain Bluetooth mice stutter around the screen and take almost a second to catch up sometimes.
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What do you all think about the fact this issue still hasn’t been fixed?
Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.
I wasted hours and hours trying every possible fix or workaround like alternative bluetooth drivers and others
BUT I FINALLY SOLVED IT:
the problem was that the bluetooth headphones weren't set as microphone source but just as audio output, by setting the headphones also as microphone source it fixed my delay problem. So the solution was really basic for me, just go to audio settings and set the headphones as microphone source
The only fix I have found is a custom Bluetooth driver designed to fix low quality audio - it seems to fix the lag. However it is a temporary release which will stop working on 31 Jan 2023:
Yeah I just bought a bluetooth speaker and I discovered that this issue seems to be known for at least 4 years!
I have to use windows (for work, otherwise I would use linux) and I'm about to send back the speakers because of this issue. It's such a shame...
I think the issue has something to do with latency compensation - Bluetooth latency can never really get lower than around 100ms, and for most headphones it's closer to 300ms. The way most operating systems deal with this is they just listen for a "delay report" from the Bluetooth device telling the computer how much latency to expect, and then play the audio ahead of the video by that amount in order to compensate. That's why when you hit play on a video or song on your phone when using Bluetooth, there is a small delay before the audio starts, but once it starts it is perfectly in sync. I know Android, iOS, and macOS have this functionality, on Linux it probably depends on distro/drivers. Windows does not seem to implement this sort of Bluetooth latency compensation, at least for the headphones I have tried.
I just had this issue with windows 11 and tws1 wireless headphones
Really bad lag like unwatchable
Here is how I fixed it:
Go into Settings>system>sound
Under advanced select "more sound settings"
Find your bluetooth device in the playback menu
Right click and click properties
Click on the advanced tab
ensure "allow applications to take exclusive control of this device" is NOT TICKED
by default both check boxes were marked and I had really bad latency
once I unchecked latency was fixed
