Set Audio Output Device For Apps Individually in Windows 10

Music Mute Sound Volume Speaker Audio Player Icon 256 03

In Windows 10 version 1803, the user can specify the audio output device on a per-app basis. Microsoft has added new, touch-friendly audio volume controls to the Settings app. Here is how to use the new options to configured the audio output device for each app individually.

Windows 10 introduced a new style of items and their panes/flyouts which open from the notification area. All of the applets which open from the system tray are different now. This includes the Date/Time pane, the Action Center, the Network pane and even the volume control. Once you click the sound icon in the system tray, the new volume indicator will appear on the screen.

Note: In a number of situations, the Volume icon can be hidden in the taskbar. Even when you have all the drivers installed, the icon might remain inaccessible. If you are affected by this issue, see the following post:

Fix: Volume Icon is Missing in Windows 10 Taskbar

In addition to the new volume mixer, a new option is available starting in Windows 10 Build 17093 and above. A new page in the Settings app allows adjusting the sound volume level for every active app. Also, it allows specifying different audio devices for running apps individually.

This new feature can be very useful for gamers, who can now use their speakers for game sounds and headphones for music or chatting. Here is it can be done.

To set audio output device for apps individually in Windows 10, do the following.

  1. Open the Settings app.
  2. Go to System -> Sound.
  3. On the right, click on App volume and device preferences under "Other sound options".
  4. On the next page, select the desired audio output device for any of the apps that play sounds.

The new page in Settings also allows changing the sound level for system sounds. It includes controls to mute apps, change the "master" volume level, select output and input devices, and more.

Tip: It is still possible to restore the good old "classic" sound volume control.

It was covered in the following article: "How to enable the old Volume control in Windows 10".

That's it.

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Author: Sergey Tkachenko

Sergey Tkachenko is a software developer who started Winaero back in 2011. On this blog, Sergey is writing about everything connected to Microsoft, Windows and popular software. Follow him on Telegram, Twitter, and YouTube.

6 thoughts on “Set Audio Output Device For Apps Individually in Windows 10”

  1. Hi!
    I’m having this issue:
    How can I force Windows 10 to choose a different sound driver for an specific app?

    The thing is: I have an external sound device and I can use it with any of the different available drivers (Windows drivers, ASIO drivers and the ones that are specific of the device).
    Is there a way to force windows to use different drivers depending on which app I’m using?
    For example:
    1) Using Novation’s or ASIO drivers for ProTools
    2) Using Windows 10 drivers for Google Chrome, YouTube, etc.

    Thanks!
    Sebastián

    1. nope, the only way to set this up is application specific. If you use the bloated protools it should have an option that allows specification of the audio protocol and then the device. Audacity has this, reaper has this as well when you are choosing an audio device. Most interfaces come with their own, proprietary asio drivers. Unless your internal soundcard comes with asio there is not a way to make it use asio… installing the buggy asio4all just worsens the problem if you want lower latencies. In the case of your applications, like chrome and games, they will either use direct sound and or the more modern and recommended windows audio session api (wasapi). And unless you can specify this anywhere this is how it would always be. So, if you plan to use your external device for everything, you would have to choose inside your application the audio protocol and then that device. If you don’t do this then the standard wdm (windows direct sound media) drivers are used, or wasapi for every app.

  2. So I was looking for this feature in Windows 11, because I use it everyday on Windows 10, and it does not seem to exist, anyone found it there yet?

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