Audio share or video share - not working if played WITHIN an application like iTunes or PowerPoint

[mroddis]

Using a Macbook Pro m2 and Office 365 - Loopback audio installed for when I do screen recordings.

When trying to play a video embedded in a PowerPoint deck, the audio is not heard - by me or the attendee, it's broken and bitty, I can hear something playing but it's inaudible. If you stop the share, you can clearly hear the video through the mac speakers.

When trying to share a song via the Spotify app and the ADVANCED share tab - share audio - the song is bitty and inaudible. If you stop the share, you can clearly hear the track through the mac speakers.

It can't be just me, I know some of you out there have issues, I don't mean the personal ones, lets stay zoom instead of running a therapy session 🙂

If you share - using ADVANCED - VIDEO file - it plays and shares ok.

If you share SCREEN - play a file from Vimeo - the audio is heard.

This problem has only occurred in the last few weeks. I am losing the will to live....

[CarlaA]

HI @mroddis, thank you for your contribution to the Zoom Community! Apologies for the issue that you are currently experiencing. 

Let's start by uninstalling the zoom desktop application. Please follow the steps outlined here: https://support.zoom.us/hc/en-us/articles/201362983-How-to-uninstall-Zoom-on-a-Mac-

After doing so we will need to reboot the device and then re-install the zoom application.

1. Navigate to Zoom’s Download Center and select Download for Zoom Client for Meetings.

2 .Run the downloaded installer file and follow the instructions to install.

Let me know if that helps when you test your meeting!

Carla,
Zoom Community Team

[mroddis]

Hi there, 

Thank you for engaging, sadly it did not work. I followed your instructions to the letter. and it has not solved the problem. I also made sure I downloaded the Zoom version for apple chips as well.

[CarlaA]

Thanks for getting back to me! Can you please also try following these directions step by step:

1. Start or join a Zoom meeting. 
2. Click on Share Screen on the meeting toolbar.
3. Select the program or desktop you wish to share. 
4. Select Share Sound in the bottom-left corner of the share selection window. 
5. (Optional) Select the down arrow  just to the right of the Share Sound option to view audio options and switch between Mono and Stereo (high fidelity) audio options. 
6. Click on Share in the bottom-right corner to begin sharing with your device's audio included. 

Notes:

• Sharing device audio can also be enabled after you have begun sharing by locating the share toolbar, clicking More, and then selecting Share Sound.
• To switch between mono and stereo sound while sharing, locate the share toolbar, click More, then select between Mono and Stereo (high fidelity) options under Select sharing sound mode. 
• For users who join the meeting via both phone and computer, in order to receive audio via the phone and video/screen sharing via computer, if Share Computer Sound is enabled, this will trigger the audio to channel through both their phone and their computer speakers. To avoid the audio feedback, mute the speaker of your phone or the speaker of your computer.    

Carla,
Zoom Community Team

[mroddis]

Hi, thank you for your patience. If you were to ask me on a scale of 1-10 as to how competent a zoom user was I , I would say 9. 

please read my description again. I know how to share sound, video, and. It is not working when shared via an application. the playback on my computer is bitty and broken, if you stop the share the sound on my computer is great.

I made you a movie  https://vimeo.com/799174965/eb67cdea79

[CarlaA]

Hi @mroddis , that was a fun video- great song selection! Thank you for sharing, it totally helps to visually understand what is happening on your end. 

@Ray_Harwood @ZoomTestKitchen you are both extremely knowledgeable Zoom experts! Do you have any input or troubleshooting tips for @mroddis ?

Let's continue the conversation,

Carla,
Zoom Community Team

[Ray_Harwood]

Hey, @mroddis,

I noticed on the recording of your actual Zoom screen (thank you for that!) the lack of the Sound for Musicians status.  Please go to Audio Settings and click the Original sound for musicians radio button which will reveal three check boxes, which I recommend in your case to check all of them.

Return to your Zoom meeting and you should see Original Sound for Musicians: Off in the upper left.  Click this "button" to toggle from Off to On.

"Play it again, Martin..." and let me know how this help helped out.

[mroddis]

Hello Mr. Lizard,

I've made you another video, I did make a discovery...

https://vimeo.com/799269323/3a22c451f4

[Ray_Harwood]

Okay... I have to admit -- I totally "waved back" at the beginning of your video.  👋

So there are many things at play here (pardon the pun).  In some cases I think you'll get garbled sound when two sources are attempting to play at the same time; and in some cases (when the timing is absolutely perfect -- which it rarely is), the phase is inverted, and one sound cancels the other.

Also makes a difference when one sound is stereo and the other is mono. And then on occasion, Jupiter aligns with Mars and I can hear the Age of Aquarius in the background.  Oh wait... that was MY audio! 🎵

So... welcome to my life as a Zoom Community Champion, helping people try to figure why their system does something odd.  I'm reasonably confident that on occasion Zoom is the culprit... but most times people will say "but it works when I do this, but not when I do that."  And as the doctor says, "Well then, don't do that, do this instead."  At least we can blame the operating system or something else.

Bottom line: I want to help, but other than "this thing doesn't work under certain circumstances", I'm not sure what your goal is.  If there's something you can only do ONE WAY, and that way doesn't work, I'll try to help you devise a work-around (though I think you're finding those on your own quite well).  Heck, I'll even fire it up on my Mac Mini (everything else here is Windows - sorry!).

If you do find something that is "broken" (in Zoom) and can definitively document the steps to reproduce it, create a Support Ticket and ship it to me and I'll try to poke Zoom to take it seriously.  I'm "just a customer", not a Zoom employee... but I have contacts I can contact.

But I do find you entertaining and a joy to converse with.  I'll send you a PM on Friday!  In the meantime, we can continue here...

[mroddis]

Brilliant, I'm a huge fan of the doctor's advice, I always get out of breath when cycling up him, so I just drive now, it works perfectly.

If I were to focus on just one thing, let's focus on something that doesn't focus on embedded, streaming Powerpoint advanced or screen sharing. Let's focus on the ADVANCED - audio - spotify. I love this feature and used it often. There is no variable path to do this, it's a simple audio share. The joy this feature gives me when people start to talk about feelings, and I play an inappropriate response is disproportionate to my bodily reactions (chuckling etc, just thought I would clarify). In truth, my co-trainers have most likely co-opted a hacker to prevent me from doing this....

[DevilinaBluDres]

Has there been any resolution that works for this issue?  I have the exact same issue using the latest Zoom update for Silicon Macs (mine is a Macbook Pro 14" M1), MacOS Ventura 13.01 when I try to share audio. The music/background noise doesn't come through when sharing audio either via Advanced-Share computer audio or by sharing a window with the share audio button checked.  Plus the voice track is garbled at times.  I've tried all the troubleshooting recommendations:  uninstall/re-install Zoom with a reboot in between, check stereo/mono in the share sound button, turning the audio for musicians on/off, and several different apps including Apple Music, Spotify, Youtube music, Youtube, and Vimeo.  All with the same results - no music/background audio and voices garbled. 

[mroddis]

Hi there, No results yet but Mr Lizard is on the case. 

I have just recorded a zoom meeting to myself on a Win11 machine and when reviewing the windows recording, the sound was not recorded on a streamed video from an embed film in a PowerPoint slide. I thought it was just my mac having issues but its not. 

This combined with you reporting the same issue with me is really good news, it means it's not all about me, it's about the community and there is a problem. Which means they will fix it.  Does anyone remember the 70's TV show Bagpuss, the mice had a great little song...

https://youtu.be/DlP7l8vkNOk

[DevilinaBluDres]

Not an ideal solution, but I ended up reverting to Monteray and then computer audio sharing in Zoom worked for me.  I didn't want to stay on an old OS, so I rolled the dice and reinstalled Ventura as a software update. Audio sharing is still working as I expect in Zoom.  So, thankfully, I didn't need to go back to Monterey again.   Unintended extra work to reinstall programs and tweak settings every day but my fingers are crossed that Zoom computer audio sharing will continue working.   

[mroddis]

I have not been told something has changed by Zoom, but something has changed, it seems to be working again.

[mpmcd]

Hiya, @CarlaA thanks for the tip uninstall and re-install. I have new Mac Mini Pro2 with apple silicon and sharing Spotify Audio was problem as described here and when I installed original I didn't install the "For Apple Silicon" version.

Installed "Apple Silicon" version and problem solved.

Might be useful to make the Apple Silicon Version more visible, rather than being in fine print on the download page.

[mroddis]

Hi, Apple silicon version still did not help with sharing audio only in the advanced tab for me. Still hoping Zoom pays attention.

[mpmcd]

Agree @mroddis 

As per below - Worked for a day on New Mac Mini Pro M2 then didnt work the next time I tried it.

I have a Macbook Pro right next to it which works fine.

[tlbauerle]

I am having the same issues. I can uninstall and reinstall zoom and the audio sharing works great for one day, then I need to do it again the next day. 

This, I believe, is a permissions issue. On a clean install, zoom asks for system permission before sharing a screen. In the future, it doesn't ask for permission. 

I have an Apple M1 Max on my Macbook Pro, running Ventura 13.3.1 (a). 

For the Zoom Client, I am running Version: 5.14.7 (18149)

Whenever I try to share audio from a browser or even a local file, Zoom is not sharing the audio at all. If I uninstall and reinstall, the probelm is fixed. 

One other thing I have done is ensure that Accessibility rights are turned on in privacy, and I also added permission to Media & Apple Music. But because this is a fresh install, it will work for now. Until it won't. 

Also, I do not seem to have a "Mic Mode" on my client. 

This is affecting the business and service delivery for my clients at this point. 

@CarlaA help is appreciated. I have a ticket on open on this: #17311849

[mpmcd]

MRODDIS, have you had any success yet.

I am still not having any luck.

[CarlaA]

Hi @mroddis @mpmcd,

Can you please let me know what zoom version you are currently on?

Please also refer to this article if you are using Windows 11: https://support.zoom.us/hc/en-us/articles/14189756424077

Carla,
Zoom Community Team

[mpmcd]

Zoom Version: Version: 5.13.11 (16405)

Mac Mini 2023

Chip - Apple M2 Pro Chip

Memory - 16GB

Mac OS Ventura Version 13.2.1

Total Number of Cores: 10 (6 performance and 4 efficiency)

  Memory: 16 GB

  System Firmware Version: 8419.80.7

Original Sound in zoom makes no difference

  OS Loader Version: 8419.80.7

[CarlaA]

Hi @mpmcd , thank you for getting back to me.

Can you install the latest version of the Zoom client. Our engineers made some changes to the sound functionality and i'm hoping this does the trick! The latest version is 5.14.0 (16775).

Let me know how it goes, 

Carla,
Zoom Community Team

[mpmcd · Accepted solution]

Hi CarlaA,

Installed new zoom version as above.

Screen shots attached tell part of the story.

Found that Mic Mode on Mac has to be set to Standard for sound sharing to work.

discovered this while trying "Original sound for musicians" a pop up came up (this appears new for this zoom version).

So using Control Center> Mic Mode > Standard seems to have fixed for sharing spotify music.

Also have to make sure Manually select Same as System as the speaker - otherwise appears to shift around from Bluetooth headphones to other outputs - seems a little random. This could perhaps do with some look at the code.

[CarlaA]

Thank you for sharing @mpmcd , it does seem that making sure the Microphone is set to Standard on Mac devices solves the issue. I appreciate you taking the time to troubleshoot with me!

[mroddis]

Amazing, it truly does seem to have worked.

Please please please Zoom, do not f this up again