How to Restart the CoreAudio Service in macOS to Fix Sound Glitches

Macs are generally renowned for their reliable audio performance, which makes them a favourite among music producers and video editors. However, occasionally, the audio system can crash. You might experience completely muted speakers, crackling playback, audio desync in videos, or your Mac might refuse to switch outputs when you plug in headphones.

Most users attempt to fix this by rebooting their entire machine. However, if you are in the middle of a project, a full restart is highly disruptive. Instead, you can simply force macOS to restart its underlying audio engine, known as CoreAudio, which usually resolves the problem in seconds.

What is CoreAudio?

CoreAudio is the low-level software interface that handles all sound processing in macOS. Every application that plays or records sound—from Apple Music and Safari to professional DAWs like Logic Pro—relies on this background service. When it hangs or encounters a glitch, all system audio fails.

How to Restart CoreAudio Using Terminal

The fastest and most reliable way to reset the audio engine is by killing the process in the Terminal. Because it is a critical system service, macOS will instantly restart it automatically, effectively rebooting your sound without touching any other running applications.

1. Open the Terminal application. You can find this by pressing Command + Space to open Spotlight Search, typing “Terminal”, and pressing Enter.
2. Carefully type or paste the following command into the Terminal window:

   sudo killall coreaudiod

3. Press Return.
4. Because you are using the sudo command (which grants administrator privileges), Terminal will ask for your Mac login password.
   
   Note: As you type your password, no characters or asterisks will appear on the screen. This is a normal security feature. Just type it blindly and press Return.

You may hear a small “pop” or static click from your speakers. This indicates that the audio daemon has been terminated and immediately brought back online.

Alternative: Restarting CoreAudio via Activity Monitor

If you prefer a visual interface over the command line, you can achieve the exact same result using the macOS Activity Monitor.

1. Open Activity Monitor (via Spotlight Search or in Applications > Utilities).
2. In the search bar at the top right of the Activity Monitor window, type coreaudiod.
3. Click on the coreaudiod process in the list to select it.
4. Click the Stop button (the circle with an “X” inside it) located at the top of the window.
5. A confirmation dialog will appear. Click Force Quit.

The process will briefly disappear from the list and reappear a second later with a new Process ID, confirming it has restarted successfully. Your audio issues should now be resolved.