Mac Sound Not Working? 8 Fixes in the Order to Try Them

Your Mac’s sound is not working. A video plays, the progress bar moves, and nothing comes out. macOS does not show an error, so there is nothing to search for except the symptom.

Most of the time the cause is a setting, and it takes under a minute to find once you know where to look. These eight fixes are in the order worth trying: the common, harmless ones first, and the hardware check last.

Why Mac Sound Stops Working

By default, macOS sends sound to one output device at a time. That device can be the built-in speakers, wired headphones, Bluetooth headphones, a display connected over HDMI or USB-C, or a virtual device created by an app like Microsoft Teams or Zoom.

When sound disappears, one of three things has usually happened. The output switched to a device you are not listening to, the volume or mute changed, or the background service that runs all Mac audio got stuck. Only after ruling those out is it worth suspecting the speakers themselves.

1. Check Volume and Mute

Press the volume up key a few times and watch the on-screen indicator. On a Mac, raising the volume also turns mute off. The mute key itself is F10 on most Mac keyboards.

If the indicator moves but you still hear nothing, the volume is fine and the sound is going somewhere else. Go to the next step.

2. Check Which Output Is Selected

Open System Settings > Sound and click Output. The selected row is where your sound is going right now.

Select MacBook Pro Speakers (or your Mac’s equivalent) and play something. If sound comes back, the output had switched without you noticing. You can also click the Sound control in Control Center to see and change the output from the menu bar.

3. Look for Bluetooth Headphones

AirPods and other Bluetooth headphones can connect to your Mac from across the room, sometimes while you are using them with another device. When they do, macOS can move the output to them.

In System Settings > Bluetooth, check whether headphones show as connected. Disconnect them, or pick your speakers as the output again.

4. Check Displays and Virtual Devices

A monitor connected over HDMI, DisplayPort, or USB-C can appear as an output device, even if its speakers are turned down or it has none. If your sound stopped when you plugged in a display or dock, this is the likely cause.

Apps can also add virtual outputs. If the selected output has a name like “Microsoft Teams Audio” or “ZoomAudioDevice”, sound is being handed to that app and not to your speakers. Select your real speakers instead.

5. Test a Different App

Play a sound from a second app. If Music plays and your browser does not, the Mac’s sound is fine and the problem is inside that one app.

In a browser, look for a muted tab. Safari shows a speaker icon on the tab that you can click to unmute. In Chrome, right-click the tab and choose Unmute site. In call apps like Zoom, Teams, and Discord, check the speaker chosen in the app’s own audio settings, because they can use a different output from the rest of the Mac.

6. Restart the Sound Service

If the right output is selected, nothing is muted, and every app is silent, restart the service that runs Mac audio. Open Terminal and run:

sudo killall coreaudiod

Enter your Mac password when asked (nothing appears as you type). Sound stops for a few seconds, then macOS starts the service again by itself. Do not do this during a call or a recording, because it interrupts both. There is more detail in our guide to what sudo killall coreaudiod does.

7. Restart the Mac and Check for Updates

A full restart clears everything the previous step does, plus stuck apps and drivers. If the problem began right after a macOS update, check System Settings > General > Software Update, because audio bugs are often fixed in the next point release.

8. Rule Out Hardware

Plug in wired headphones. If they work and the built-in speakers stay silent with the speakers selected as the output, the speakers may have failed.

Run Apple Diagnostics as a further check. On a Mac with Apple silicon, shut down, hold the power button until the startup options appear, release it, then hold Command-D until the Mac restarts. On an Intel Mac, hold D while it starts. A clean result does not rule out a failed speaker, so contact Apple Support if the speakers stay silent.

A Faster Way to Check All of This

Soundshine Doctor is a free Mac app we built for exactly this checklist. It opens to one screen that shows the selected output, the volume and mute state, Bluetooth quality, and the microphone, and it flags the problems it can detect, such as mute, zero volume, or no working output. If you choose “No sound” as the symptom, it opens the output check with a test tone.

Its Quick Fix button applies the repair that fits. If the right fix is restarting the sound service, Doctor does that for you without Terminal, and it refuses to do it while an app is using a microphone, which is how it avoids cutting off a call or a recording. It still asks for your Mac password for that step, because macOS requires it.

Doctor cannot repair a failed speaker, and it does not change anything until you click. It needs macOS 15 or later.

Download Soundshine Doctor free. There is no account, and Doctor never records audio.

If your sound works but something else is off, see our guides to volume keys that do nothing, crackling MacBook speakers, and a microphone that is not working.