How to Fix ‘Coreaudiod High CPU Usage’ on Mac

Hearing your Mac’s cooling fans spin up to maximum velocity while Activity Monitor reveals the process: “coreaudiod” consuming 100% or more of CPU capacity indicates an audio subsystem deadlock. In macOS, coreaudiod is the core system daemon responsible for managing the Core Audio Hardware Abstraction Layer (HAL). It handles digital audio routing, sample rate conversions, and hardware communications with internal speakers, microphones, and external USB/Thunderbolt DACs. When third-party virtual audio drivers (such as Soundflower, BlackHole, or audio routing plugins) crash, Bluetooth audio packets desynchronize, or audio preference plists become corrupted, coreaudiod enters an infinite execution loop. This tutorial explains how to terminate the audio daemon, remove faulty HAL plugins, and restore normal Mac CPU usage.

Why Does coreaudiod Consume High CPU?

The audio daemon runs continuously in the background. Situations that cause runaway processor usage include:

• Corrupted Audio HAL Plugins: Outdated virtual microphone or audio recording extensions located in /Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/HAL/ failing to respond to Core Audio queries.
• Bluetooth Audio Buffer Desynchronisation: Wireless headphones experiencing packet loss, forcing coreaudiod into continuous resampling attempts.
• Damaged Audio Preferences: Corrupted property list (.plist) files in the system configuration directory.
• Sample Rate Mismatches in Audio MIDI Setup: Discrepancies between input and output sample frequencies (such as 44.1 kHz vs 96 kHz) causing CPU-intensive software interpolation.
• Third-Party Meeting App Conflicts: Video conferencing tools (such as Zoom or Teams) failing to release microphone input handles upon call termination.

Method 1: Force Restart the coreaudiod Daemon via Terminal

Terminating the hung daemon clears temporary thread locks without requiring a system reboot; macOS automatically restarts the daemon within seconds.

1. Press Cmd + Space to open Spotlight, type Terminal, and press Enter.
2. Enter the following command and press Enter:

   sudo killall coreaudiod

3. Type your Mac administrator password when prompted and press Enter (characters will not show on screen).
4. Wait five seconds for the audio subsystem to reinitialize.
5. Open Activity Monitor and verify that coreaudiod has dropped to less than 1% CPU usage.

Method 2: Remove Conflicting Third-Party HAL Audio Plugins

Virtual audio drivers and sound-enhancing utilities are the primary cause of persistent Core Audio crashes.

1. In Finder, press Cmd + Shift + G to open the Go to Folder dialogue.
2. Enter the following path and press Enter:

   /Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/HAL/

3. Inspect the contents of this folder. Look for outdated plugins such as Soundflower.driver, Boom2Device.driver, InstantOn.driver, or old capture drivers.
4. Move suspicious or unused drivers to the Desktop or Trash.
5. Open Terminal and restart coreaudiod to apply the changes:

   sudo killall coreaudiod

Method 3: Delete Corrupted Core Audio Preference Files

Resetting Core Audio configuration files returns the subsystem to factory audio routing settings.

1. Open Terminal and run the following command to remove damaged audio preferences:

   sudo rm -f /Library/Preferences/Audio/com.apple.audio.DeviceSettings.plist
   sudo rm -f /Library/Preferences/Audio/com.apple.audio.SystemSettings.plist

2. Restart your Mac to allow macOS to generate fresh preference files.

Method 4: Align Sample Rates in Audio MIDI Setup

Mismatched sample rates between connected audio devices force coreaudiod to perform constant mathematical interpolation.

1. Open Spotlight (Cmd + Space), type Audio MIDI Setup, and press Enter.
2. In the left sidebar, select your active output device (such as MacBook Speakers or external headphones).
3. Under the Format section, select 44,100 Hz or 48,000 Hz.
4. Select your input device (such as MacBook Microphone) and set it to the identical sample rate (48,000 Hz).