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Information for: Airfoil for MacAudio HijackFarragoFissionLoopbackPiezoSoundSource

Audio channel handling in Airfoil for Mac

Generally speaking, Rogue Amoeba’s applications use stereo audio pipelines, rather than multi-channel audio formats such as 5.1 surround sound or Dolby Atmos.

Airfoil captures stereo audio from applications or input devices for output to supported stereo output devices.

To connect to different types of remote speakers, Airfoil must transmit audio using the audio format standards of each device’s streaming protocol. AirPlay audio streams in 44.1 kHz, 16-bit stereo Apple Lossless format, while Chromecast devices stream 48 kHz PCM audio.

When Airfoil streams to AirPlay or Chromecast devices, there’s never any quality loss. If you also wish to avoid any resampling of your application source’s audio, set your Mac’s default output device to match the 44.1 kHz or 48 kHz sample rate format of your preferred streaming device.