The HDMI port on the MacBook Pro (14-inch, 2021) model does not output audio on macOS Monterey 12.3.1

I'm having the same issue. It used to work fine, I've used this laptop to output video and Audio to various TV's in the past but now it will no longer work.

MacBook Pro 2021 M1 Pro with Monterey 12.4 installed.

Things I've tried:

• Two different known good HDMI cables.
• Two different TVs
• Multiple ports on the TVs
• Rebooting the Mac
• Updating the Mac from Monterey 12.3.1 to 12.4

The TV does show up under the sound menu as an option but just like all the other posts here (and on reddit) I just get an endless loading spinner and it never connects the audio stream. In the system preferences I can highlight HDMI as an output all I want but nothing happens. The video stream continues to work as expected in all cases.

The frustrating thing is that it used to work fine for both audio and video streams over HDMI but it no longer does.

Based on the number of people reporting the same issue and the fact that it's also often reported that it previously worked this seems to be a software issue in the OS not a hardware issue with these laptops. The HDMI connection is made, the handshake is validated and the video stream is created and output but when trying to switch the audio to pass over HDMI either one of two things must be happening.

1. The audio stream is never being created by the media encoder, or
2. The audio stream is being created but it's not being sent from the media encoder to the HDMI output

Either way the laptop clearly attempts to do something but fails and there's no sound change on the TV or the laptop. Based on the fact that the laptop audio continues to play and never switches I would posit that point 1 is most likely, since the audio is never taken away from the laptop speaker output to be re-encoded to a digital HMDI stream, it simply continues to play on the laptop speakers.

Base on these details is there some way to get this raised as a ticket in the OS team's system? They're the only ones who are going to be able to fix it definitely. No amount of advice on here will do it.

Hello vclemson07,

Thank you for reaching out to Apple Support Communities.

You have done some great troubleshooting steps so far.

Let's test in safe mode:

"How to use safe mode

Determine whether you're using a Mac with Apple silicon, then follow the appropriate steps:

Apple silicon

1. Shut down your Mac.
2. Turn on your Mac and continue to press and hold the power button until you see the startup options window.
3. Select your startup disk, then press and hold the Shift key while clicking “Continue in Safe Mode.”
4. Log in to your Mac. You might be asked to log in again."

This will help us determine if any software is preventing your audio form working correctly.

More information can be found here: How to use safe mode on your Mac

If the issue persists, it may be best to reach out to Apple directly.

You can contact them by going to Get Support.

Good Luck!

This is for sure Monterey problem! I have mac mini M1 running Big Sur and my GF got the Macbook Air M1 with Monterey now updated to 12.4. She also got the USB C to HDMI hub... no sound on hooked up TV, the icon just keeps spinning.

I tried connecting my mini using the same hub and the same cable and everything works fine.

I tried tricking it by making an aggregate device in Audio MIDI setup, installing Soundsource app to route audio to TV but nothing works.

Apple needs to step up, because they released several updates for Monterey and still didn't fix this.

You really don't expect these new praised machines to fail at such mundane task like connecting it to TV.

Confirmed I'm having the same (or very similar) problem. 14-inch 2021 MacBook Pro, M1 chip, Monterey 12.3.1.

When I switch the system audio output to HDMI, video doesn't play correctly. I've tested with multiple different cables, multiple HDMI devices (Samsung TV, LG TV, a conference projector setup, an external Samsung monitor).

Once I change the system audio output to HDMI, none of my apps can play video properly. QuickTime, VLC Player, PowerPoint - even YouTube videos don't play correctly. Sometimes I get distorted audio, sometimes the video won't start, sometimes the video plays at 10-20x normal speed with no audio. (Even the tiny video preview in Finder windows is affected.)

If I switch the system audio output back to built-in speakers or external headphones, everything works properly again.

The same video clips play just fine on a Surface Pro 7, via HDMI, using the same cables and the same HDMI devices, so this definitely looks like a macOS HDMI audio problem.

Hey Vclemson07,

Have you tested other HDMI cables? If we missed that in your post, we apologize. However, it is a good step to test out. You can use the same HDMI that you have connected to this Mac on your other Mac, to see if the issue persists.

What happens when you connect headphones to the Mac? Does the audio output work there?

Also, try out steps in: Change the sound output settings on Mac - Apple Support Since this is specifically how these settings should appear when connecting to an external device.

Should the issue persist, then it might be best to connect with Apple Support: Apple Support

Wishing you well, cheers.

vclemson07,

Before contacting Apple, test with a new HDMI cable, or borrow a known good cable, just to be certain.

Then contacting Apple Support is the best option.

Thanks!

Base on these details is there some way to get this raised as a ticket in the OS team's system?

Of course there is: contact Apple support - link is in the upper right corner of this page. We are all other users and do not work for Apple; everyone can contact Apple to raise the issue.

Yes, I am having the exact same problem, but interestingly, it was working fine when i got mine back in March (Mac 16 M1 Pro Max) until recently. The sound is glitchy and cuts on and off.