Preventing audio delays while watching videos with Airfoil

If you watch a video in iTunes, QuickTime, VLC, or any other video player, then transmit the audio with Airfoil, you will notice a distinct delay between the local on-screen video and the remote audio playback.

The delay you're seeing (or hearing) between local and remote playback is inherent to the AirTunes protocol used by the AirPort Express and Apple TV, and can not be removed. Audio received by these devices is always buffered and held for approximately 2 seconds before being played back. The end result is that if you use Airfoil with most video players, the local video plays about two seconds ahead of remote audio.

To solve this issue on Mac OS X ¹, we created Airfoil Video Player. Airfoil Video Player takes control of the video files it plays (DVDs as well as most unprotected video formats) and decouples the audio and the video. The local video is delayed for the same 2 seconds, then played on-screen in sync with the remote audio. The end result is that you get remote audio and local video in sync with one another. ²

To play videos in sync with Airfoil, you must use Airfoil Video Player. Airfoil Video Player is included free with Airfoil itself.

To use Airfoil Video Player:

1) Set your source in Airfoil to "Airfoil Video Player" and then connect to your remote speakers.
2) When Airfoil Video Player launches, select the video you wish to play.
3) Press play, and enjoy local video with remote audio, all in sync.

That should be all you need, but for more details, read the Using Airfoil Video Player page of the Airfoil manual, found under the Help menu in Airfoil.

Footnotes
1. Airfoil Video Player is only available for Mac OS X. We have no plans for Airfoil Video Player on the Windows side. Sorry! ↩

2. Airfoil Video Player only supports local, non-DRMed video files and DVDs. Because we can not control playback of web video or DRMed iTunes Store video, they are not supported with Airfoil Video Player. ↩