Apple TV, AirPlay and YouTube - no audio

2021 and problem still exists.

Im an ios developer so I’ve debugged some things.

Devices:

Apple TV non-4K release then beta TvOS

Apple TV 4K latest beta

Receivers:

Boston Acoustics legacy AirPlay speaker

Same Boston speaker in Bluetooth mode

Apple Legacy Airport express

HomePod

AirPods

Any combination with an AirPlay v1 device, the audio plays for a blip and stops.

That is to say, the HomePod and AirPods and Bluetooth works fine but the older third-party speaker an airport express receiver exhibit this audio glitch.

I’ve reinstalled the YouTube app and reset all data to no avail.

Only the YouTube app is effected.

Hulu, Netflix, Plex, CuriosityStream, Spotify all tested fine.

• Changing bitrate - no change
• forcing Apple TV audio mix down to stereo - no change; mono no change.

——

it’s my conclusion this is 100% YouTube code. That makes absolutely no sense to me because AirPlay is an operating system level feature. Yes, an app can configure certain options to be available or not such as picture and picture support, if airplay it allowed at all for videos etc. but beyond that configuration stage, audio buffers are just sent to coreaudio if they’re using their own code for decompression, or if they’re using the Apple video AVPlayer apis the audio is handled automagically.

If they’re serving H264 or H265 they absolutely should just use AV player. It allows completely custom controls and more, there’s no reason to write your own decoder/demuxer But with Google I wouldn’t be surprised if they insist on doing everything themselves.

I’ve written a lot of core audio Code for tvOS iOS and Mac including compatibility layers for the Xamarian and react native. I am absolutely baffled how you can actually break this in an app specifically in such an odd way but nothing with Google and iOS can surprise me anymore.

I’m almost impressed on how badly this is broken. Almost as impressed by the fact they completely are ignoring it for months now.

you know what does work all day enough though, AirPlay from iPhone YouTube video to a tvOS device but the audio to an AirPlay v1 is perfectly fine, but annoyingly laggy 🤦‍♂️

I have the following:

• Sony Bravia
• Apple TV 4k (connected to CEC)
• Sonos Beam (optical output from TV)
• Hompod

A few days ago this problem began with all audio from the ATV. I would typically airplay to the Beam and Homepod (default audio being TV Speakers). Now when I try to airplay at all, I lose audio completely and video stops. I need to then go to the airplay button and select TV Speakers to get audio back (via TV speakers).

Every device listed above is up to date (as of 1/15/2021). I'm scouring these forums for a solution... I'll reply here if I find anything.

Hi

Hoping that 14.2 may have a fix for this issue, I upgraded to the Beta version.

Now it no longer detects my airplay device at all.

Now completely broken - for all apps.

So upgrade at your own risk if you need airplay.

I logged a bug with Apple.

Lets see what happens....

I have the same problem. I get audio on YouTube for about 2-3 seconds and then it goes mute.

i have tried updating Apple TV, setting static IP, resetting the Apple TV, restarting the Apple TV - no luck.

I have the exact same issue. Youtube app in AppleTV does not connect to my HK Airplay speakers. This started few days ago. All other apps (Apple Movies, Music, Netflix they all connects well). It is just the Youtube App behave like this.

1) With the new APPLETV SW update, the Audio output can be selected through Holding Remote Home Key. When HK Airplay speaker is selected, Sounds come for a split second and it go it goes silent.

2) AppleTV Youtube App airPlays well on to my Homepod.

3) If you airplay your Youtube App on your phone to AppleTV, Youtube app runs well on AppleTV and AppleTv plays sound on my HK Airplay speakers very well in that case.

I tried all possible options, reconfiguring HK speakers (even when I know this issue is not related to it)., Resetting and reconfiguring AppleTV etc. The issue is still the same.

I hope Youtube and AppleTV would work together to fix this.

Same issue here. Airplay with YouTube tv has video only but no sound. Other apps from the same device work fine (Disney + and paramount, for example). I have the same experience on multiple iPhones and iPads

I have the exact same problem. Apple TV connected to Display Panel via HDMI, audio output through airplay to Yamaha receiver. Only youtube appears to have the problem. (Netflix, Amazon and other apps work just fine). Any youtube video played with the wireless airplay receiver selected as output results in a couple of seconds of expected audio from the device followed by silence. Upon encountering the problem, I updated the tvOS to the latest version followed by a current over the air beta neither of which remedied the situation. I highly suspect the YouTube app as the issue is not present elsewhere.

Im posting to bump and say Im having the issue too! I am on the latest update which is tvOS 14.2 at 11/11/20. Youtube app audio cuts out after 2 seconds using airplay with audio to an airport express that is hardwired to speakers. My Youtube TV app actually works perfectly as well as my other apps like netflix, hulu,  tv plus, and Prime video. I only experience this within the YouTube app. My twitch.tv app experiences an audio delay.

Same issue here as well. I haven’t found a solution and tried the steps described in this discussion.

However, I found a way to still be able to enjoy YouTube using Apple TV. Use any other iOS device, open the YouTube app, swipe down from the screen and select screen mirroring, hit play in the YouTube video and you will see it appear on your Apple TV connect screen. Make sure the Apple TV uses your airplay connected audio.

Cheers and good luck

same issue still here... regarding YT

its a pity as I used YT more on aTV than now. I assume it has to do something with privacy... which triggered me to sign off google search and YT with all my devices, using YT as a guest only.

So frustrating. I use YouTube for work and it is easiest to have it on my TV to watch. I got this Apple TV in April and the Sonos One Gen 2 with Airplay 2. It worked fine until early October. Apparently, it’s because YouTube uses a diff sound player than other apps do for audio output. Idk the details, but I’m so annoyed this couldn’t have been fixed sooner.

It's a shame that YouTube still hasn't fixed its app, it's one of the main things I use my Apple TV for...

@Solaris77: I think I can help you, though: You now switch audio output by long pressing the TV icon on the AppleTV Remote, I don't know why apple removed it from settings, but for me it's actually more convenient this way (especially for switching Airplay back on for any App other than Youtube...)

I hope someone finds a fix soon...

Workaround: stream it from iPad, via aTV. Tried yesterday and it is neat workaround.

i think apple killed this service as many of us used it instead of aMusic... I personally used it if non static video was available on YT many times when we had some guests. Rarely with static “video” on YT. I wish apple have such service... AppleTube... or aFruiTube.

My issue persists. What tvOS version are you running to solve the issue? My issue specifically is that all apps besides YT work with my Yamaha Receiver being designated as the AirPlay audio output on Apple TV. With YouTube I my receiver displays the track or title being played via the YT app, but no audio is output. All other apps seem to work. Plex, Netflix etc. Sure I can use another iOS device and airplay to the Apple TV while having the Yamaha as my output but that ties up an iOS device for the task.

I suspect this is an Airplay, YouTube (Apple) DRM issue. Something is not shaking hands. My initial gut feeling was that YT DRM features are causing this Airplay issue with 3rd party airplay devices.