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Anyone know how I can set for an application to output its audio to a specific device in Windows? I'm dealing with applications where it's not possible to go into their settings and choose which output device you want to use.

1
  • Would hooking onto the executable or processes, or performing some dll injection do the trick?
    – Griffin
    Mar 14, 2013 at 16:34

12 Answers 12

34

It looks like Windows 10 (Build 1803) has a native solution.

  1. Go into Windows Settings > System > Sound (Figure 1)
  2. Towards the bottom below the Section "Input, you will see a section labeled "Other Sound options". Select App volume and device preferences (Figure 2)
  3. The Top Section controls the default sound settings, while the Bottom section allows for individual sound control.

See the two images below:

Figure 1

Figure 2

15

I found : Audio Router @ the provided link on reddit.

https://www.reddit.com/r/software/comments/3f3em6/is_there_a_alternative_to_chevolume/

There's a download link there, and some info on it. https://reddit.com/user/audiorouterdev - is the developer

I had heaps of issues with CheVolume, and so far this works great and at the moment it's free.

Added Source/Download Link: https://github.com/audiorouterdev/audio-router

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  • Thanks, this is actually something I used before and it worked for me, just could not find the name again.
    – Marius
    May 9, 2016 at 14:34
  • Unfortunately this doesn't have any effect on one app I'm using and crashes the other one... Jul 6, 2016 at 19:24
  • Interesting, cause I'm using it on Windows 10 :\
    – VeenarM
    Aug 9, 2016 at 1:09
  • right click run as administrator I believe I had to do - but nothing else special
    – VeenarM
    Aug 10, 2016 at 1:00
  • 4
    Source and Download at github.com/audiorouterdev/audio-router Aug 17, 2016 at 14:01
14

I know that I'm kinda late, but maybe this can help other people.

@studiohack The tool you're looking for is Chevolume (http://chevolume.com/). It allows per application audio control.

Sadly it's not free, but totally worth those few bucks.

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  • 3
    Just to save you some clicks: few bucks = 20 USD. I tried it today and I think it's not worth that price, but it does its work.
    – Enrico
    Feb 8, 2016 at 3:02
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    It does its work some of the time. Fails often enough to be frustrating. This is really a missing OS function in Windows, it's unreasonable to expect every app using audio to have a UI and code for doing the same thing, but I guess the Windows team doesn't feel the same way. Feb 26, 2016 at 22:44
  • crashed to often on my pc. i deinstalled it after 10 minutes. Aug 17, 2016 at 14:02
  • Dead link, so not viable anymore
    – Kissaki
    Oct 16, 2021 at 17:39
9

For Windows 7 or 8, I use Audio Router. CheVolume is another alternative.

For Windows 10, starting with the April 2018 update, there is a built-in option to assign different audio outputs and inputs to individual applications. Here's how to do it (source):

  1. Right-click the volume icon in the system tray and select Open Sound settings.
  2. Scroll down to the bottom of the newly opened window and, under Other sound options, click on App volume and device preferences.
  3. As soon as you open an application that uses audio, it will show up here and, next to it, you will be able to customize which audio devices it uses for sound output and input.
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  • This is great. Now if only they'd let you select more than one output device at the same time...
    – Ajedi32
    May 29, 2018 at 18:49
6

There are FREE alternatives

(as in speech and beer):

For routing individual Applications to different devices:
https://github.com/audiorouterdev/audio-router

For switching the default Audio quickly:
https://code.google.com/archive/p/audioswitch/

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  • 1
    Except AudioRouter sadly is a bit buggy and doesn't work that great with Windows 10 anymore.
    – user531558
    Dec 29, 2016 at 15:51
  • @7h3w1z4rd I'm seeing in the changelog something about an issue in Win10 fixed, may still be useful to try. I'm using it on Win8, it's still working AOK.
    – TT.
    May 18, 2017 at 18:48
  • @TT. sadly, audio router hasn't been updated for over a year. And i know it says Win10 fixed, but it's still not working :(
    – user531558
    May 24, 2017 at 6:24
  • Audio router had no updates since 2016, supposedly broken since a Windows 10 Fall feature update. So not viable anymore.
    – Kissaki
    Oct 16, 2021 at 17:47
2

If it's windows 7, click the volume icon, click mixer, then under device on the left, there's a dropdown to choose your output device.

edit: sorry, I realized you're talking about a setting for each application. I see a post asking about this. One guy says he 'tricks' vista into outputting a certain app to the same device every time but no idea if this is a reliable fix. One app that might do the job is this one: http://software.muzychenko.net/eng/vac.htm At first it doesn't sound like the tool for the job but the more I read, the more it sounds like it should be able to specify different audio outputs for each program. Not sure if you must run this program first or at the same time or what. Worth a look maybe.

Here's the thread I found btw: http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en/windowspro-audiodevelopment/thread/a9241198-9e54-4358-8608-0a21163e0654

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    VAC does not allow you to select an audio device per application. In fact, it appears not to solve any important problem, but instead truly acts as if an audio cable were plugged into the appropriate ports on your sound card/motherboard. Quite frustrating.
    – skeggse
    Jan 6, 2013 at 5:53
1

Free audio cable here http://vb-audio.pagesperso-orange.fr/Cable/ You can use the Audio Density Demo to redirect the virtual cable to speakers, so you hear on speakers as well.

Some people are recommending the free Jack server at http://jackaudio.org/download

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  • You can also go into Recording devices, right click CABLE Output and use "Listen to" to play over speakers, skips the necessity of the Demo app. Sep 2, 2013 at 22:17
  • 2
    Please read How do I recommend software for some tips as to how you should go about recommending software. You should provide at least a link, some additional information about the software itself, and how it can be used to solve the problem in the question.
    – DavidPostill
    Aug 8, 2016 at 21:34
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An alternative solution is to use VmWare player (with which you can specify the audio output of the guest OS). Before launching your VM, specify its audio output device. Other windows applications will still output to the default device. Works perfectly for streaming music !

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  • 1
    Except this doesn't work for software that is on the host. I think the OP wants to change audio output for software that is on the host and not in a vm...
    – user531558
    Dec 6, 2016 at 9:23
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IndieVolume does that, but it's not free.

IndieVolume is a per-application volume control for Windows XP.

IndieVolume makes Windows programs use separate volume controls independent of other Windows programs.

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0

Found this recently (while I enjoy audio router atm it doesn't save settings or mappings of programs to route, which seems to be its only downside).

Here's the alternative I've found: https://github.com/eiz/SynchronousAudioRouter/releases

The downside, or upside as you may take it is that you'll NEED an asio device. If you don't have one you're going to need a virtual asio device like ASIO4ALL, and you'll more than likely need a DAW of some sort, if you don't have one already.

The huge plus out of this program is that if you have an application which allows you to select a device this program will swap it more inline with Windows behavior as opposed to creating an add hoc virtual pipe to that output. You'll see the change reflected in that program's settings.

The guy made sure to have a drop-down of currently running programs, so it's not difficult to configure.

Bit of disclaimer, like audio router it seems a bit unstable, I've had it crash the windows audio system. My computer setup is a bit strange in that wasn't a problem for me as most of what I'm doing is through some sort of ASIO device anyway. Restarting the computer should put it back into working order. Obviously if you're doing something critical w/ audio through Window's system...be advised. My best guess as to why this happens seems to be that the program actually creates and removes audio devices as you configure it, and some programs probably might not be set up to handle a device suddenly disappearing entirely. You can do a similar thing to a program like VoiceMeeter if you have an external soundcard you can unplug and plug in at will.

-1

You might be able to accomplish this under Windows 7 using Virtual Audio Cable along with the step that @CreeDorofl mentioned.

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  • I've used a very similar, but a donationware (free) application known as VB Audio Cable. It was a little bit complicated to setup, but it does have a companion application known as Voicemeeter that allows you to adjust audio and mixer settings in real time.
    – Jay M
    Feb 10, 2016 at 2:47
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    This is really a comment and not an answer to the original question. To critique or request clarification from an author, leave a comment below their post - you can always comment on your own posts, and once you have sufficient reputation you will be able to comment on any post. Please read Why do I need 50 reputation to comment? What can I do instead?
    – DavidPostill
    Aug 8, 2016 at 21:35
-1

If you open the sound config of Windows, you should be able to right click on your headset and thne "Set as default device", which turns most applications to your headset instead of speakers.

Works for me to listen to music at work in my headset instead of speakers.

Default playback device selection

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  • 3
    Did you read the question ?
    – Noam Manos
    Mar 13, 2017 at 15:22

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