VLC 3+ audio skipping/fluttering after pause and resume

[dbrain]

Hello,

I posted in the Windows specific forum here: https://forum.videolan.org/viewtopic.ph ... 29#p467729
Another user on Mac OS with wired headphones suggested he had the same issue, so I think it's more of a general problem to what I assumed was Windows/Bluetooth specific.

Basically playing a video initially works fine, but if you pause and then resume the audio starts skipping / "fluttering" as if you were smashing the pause/resume key or turning the volume up and down frantically.
Personally I could reproduce this on VLC 3+ and the 4.0.0 nightlies on Win64 using a Bose QC35 bluetooth headset. 2.2.8 works fine.
The other user in that post could reproduce it on Mac OS High Sierra using wired headphones. Suggested seeking after resuming from pause fixes the issue.

Happy to provide any additional debugging details.

Thanks!

[Rémi Denis-Courmont]

VLC has always had stutter/skip problem on resume depending on hardware/drivers/luck.

[dbrain]

Seems to be this issue here:
https://trac.videolan.org/vlc/ticket/19406

@ssbssa has a workaround here:
https://forum.videolan.org/viewtopic.ph ... ad#p467794

Basically: Try moving libspatialaudio_plugin.dll out of the VLC\plugins\audio_filter\ directory.
Or in my case I renamed it so it ended with .disable instead of .dll with same effect.

@Remi, this isn't just one quick skip/stutter it continues until you seek etc.

[Rémi Denis-Courmont]

The spatializer is not enabled by default. You don't need to rename it; just don't enable it in the first place.

[dbrain]

This occurs on a default install of VLC 3+. I cleared preferences etc. to ensure it wasn't a config conflict between versions.

I just did the reinstall/clear preferences dance to triple check. Advanced settings -> Audio -> Filters no boxes are checked. Issue still presents itself on pause/resume.
Moving the libspatialaudio_plugin.dll to libspatialaudio_plugin.dll.disable fixes the issue.

So it seems this plugin being loaded at all is causing this issue whether it's disabled or not.

[Rev_Night]

Hi!

I have recently started seeing this error on my htpc, but my gaming pc is just fine. What could be causing it? Both pcs are running the same version of 3.0.10.

Problem:
After unpausing, there is a 2-3 second audio mute while the video continues. After this, audio turns on and rest of file is fine.

Troubleshoots:
-Rename libspatialaudio_plugin.dll to libspatialaudio_plugin.dll.disable. This semi-worked. Now audio instantly plays after pause, but there bug is still present if the pause is 30 seconds or more.
-Audio Codecs \ Check 'Fast Seek' - This didn't fix anything
-Uninstall, Re-install

Gaming PC (no VLC error):
I7-6700K
AMD 5700xt (20.5.1 driver)
Realtek internal audio (connected to either external logitech speakers, or USB headset)
16gb ram
Win 10

HTPC (vlc error):
Ryzen 2200g
AMD 480x graphics (20.5.1 driver)
AMD 480x audio (connected via HDMI to receiver)
8gm ram
Win 10

[Rémi Denis-Courmont]

Power management features or settings would be an obvious potential explanation.

[Rev_Night]

In VLC? In Windows? What specifically do I have to change?

[hellomynameis]

I still have the same problem to this day (using VLC 3.0.12). I tried everything but it didn't solve. Does anyone have a clue? Thank you.

[Rémi Denis-Courmont]

Again, power management is a frequent culprit. Unfortunately, those settings are heavily hardware-dependent, and most of them are in the BIOS rather than the OS.

[hellomynameis]

Again, power management is a frequent culprit. Unfortunately, those settings are heavily hardware-dependent, and most of them are in the BIOS rather than the OS.

Do you mean something like this: https://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Notebook- ... -p/7140200? I've already tried it. Plus, it only happens with VLC.

[Rémi Denis-Courmont]

That's not what I meant, but that's also a potential issue. Ultimately, those issues are 99% caused by invalid audio timings supplied to VLC. And those issues almost always stem from device driver bugs or power management bugs.

Note that most other apps tend to ignore the correlation of audio and real-time clock, so of course they don't observe the problem. VLC can't do that because we want A/V synch including for live streams.

It might work better in version 4.0 for non-live streams though.

[hellomynameis]

That's not what I meant, but that's also a potential issue. Ultimately, those issues are 99% caused by invalid audio timings supplied to VLC. And those issues almost always stem from device driver bugs or power management bugs.

Note that most other apps tend to ignore the correlation of audio and real-time clock, so of course they don't observe the problem. VLC can't do that because we want A/V synch including for live streams.

It might work better in version 4.0 for non-live streams though.

so basically there's nothing I can do lol

[onetruecliff]

Has there been any update or successful workaround for this? It happens ALL the time on my Linux machine, on multiple different computers even with different hardware.

[cupakabra]

Any fix for this issue on Linux? I have the same problem while everything else works fine.

[Rémi Denis-Courmont]

VLC 4.0 works around most problems. Otherwise proper fixes are heavily hardware-dependent, whatever the OS, so can't really say much.

[nothingavailnemore]

I found the fix!

Tools -> Preferences -> Audio...

Under "Output", select an Output Module. On Ubuntu, I selected ALSA.

The audio stuttering seems to be caused by the logic executed when the "Automatic" option is selected.

[nothingavailnemore]

So, to be clear. There are two issues:

Issue 1: Audio stutters (sort of off and on) for 5 to 6 seconds after pausing a video.
Cause 1: This is caused by Tools -> Preferences -> Audio -> Output -> Output module: Automatic
Fix 1: Change Tools -> Preferences -> Audio -> Output -> Output module to your preferred module. The stuttering happens when this is set to "Automatic".

Issue 2: Audio cuts out for half a second after pausing video.
Cause 2: This is caused by Tools -> Preferences -> Audio -> Effects -> Enable Time-Stretching audio: enabled (checked)
Fix 2: Disable (uncheck) Tools -> Preferences -> Audio -> Effects -> Enable Time-Stretching audio

[Rémi Denis-Courmont]

So to be clear, depending on your system configuration "automatic" may or may not mean ALSA. If it means ALSA, it will obviously make no differences at all.

And if it does not mean ALSA, but PulseAudio, then it will just shift from native PulseAudio output to ALSA emulation over PulseAudio. All this does is create more problems, due to limitations of the emulation layer. Since you still end up using PulseAudio in the back-end anyway, it shouldn't really fix anything... Maybe you've exposed some weird bug between PulseAudio (or Pipewire), your hardware and your hardware driver, but this will be specific to your setup

Forcing ALSA is highly unadvisable in general.

[DaBzzz]

Well it does help with the pause-play stutter, but introduces squeaky sound while searching via the arrow keys (both directions). Since I pause more often than I skip parts of the video, except for the single -3s step to circumvent pause-play stuttering that this workaround fixes...it'll stay that way, until a miracle OS update fixes it once and for all. (the [s]strike[/s] tag is disabled, but much needed here)

[RasperJasputin]

@ssbssa has a workaround here:
https://forum.videolan.org/viewtopic.ph ... ad#p467794

Basically: Try moving libspatialaudio_plugin.dll out of the VLC\plugins\audio_filter\ directory.
Or in my case I renamed it so it ended with .disable instead of .dll with same effect.

@Remi, this isn't just one quick skip/stutter it continues until you seek etc.

Thank you!!

Finally after searching and trying all kinds of things, renaming libspatialaudio_plugin.dll fixed it for me! It was never an issue until I got a Focusrite audio interface, and installed it's drivers. I don't use that interface for VLC, but use the mobo/Realtek audio for VLC (and browsing/youtubing/gaming/etc.) Most of the time the Focusrite interface isn't even powered on/disconnected from USB (where it gets it's power from.)

Happy to have this issue resolved, wanted to say thanks, and give a little info on what seemed to be the catalyst to the audio stutter issue developing for me.