Bluetooth latency test. How late do your earbuds play?
Bluetooth earbuds and headphones buffer sound before they play it, and the delay shows in games and calls. Connect them, press Play and tap along to the clicks you hear: the median gap is the delay you actually experience, wireless link included. Run it again with wired headphones or the laptop's speakers, and the difference is what the Bluetooth link adds.
One check
- Audio delay
One check after another, with your progress along the top and a plain verdict on each. Nothing you show the camera or say into the microphone leaves this page.
In short
Bluetooth latency test: the answer first
A Bluetooth latency test measures how late sound reaches you through wireless earbuds or headphones. You tap along to ten clicks scheduled on the audio clock, and the median gap is the delay, wireless link included. Run it again on wired headphones, and the difference is what the Bluetooth link adds.
Reading your result
- The tapped figure is the one you hear
- The browser's reported output latency rarely includes the wireless link. The tapped median does.
- Subtract the wired run
- Your own tapping habit is in both runs, so the difference between them is the link's share.
- Against what people notice
- Past the warn line, late sound shows in games and in conversation; past the higher line it is plainly behind.
What it measures
Measured here, not assumed.
- Reported delay
- The output latency the browser reports for the path to your headphones, where it shares one. Chrome and Firefox do; Safari often does not. It rarely includes the wireless link.
- Tapped delay
- Ten clicks are scheduled on the audio clock and you tap along. Each tap is matched to the click before it, so a tap a whole click late is a miss, never an early tap. The first two clicks are dropped while the rhythm settles; the median gap is the delay, with the slowest tenth and your own spread beside it.
- Wired against Bluetooth
- Run once on the Bluetooth headphones and once on a wired pair or the speakers. Your own tapping habit is in both runs, so the difference between the two medians is the share the wireless link adds.
- Against what people notice
- Our warn line of 120 ms sits at the point ITU-R BT.1359 gives for late sound becoming detectable. Past 250 ms, our own line, it is plainly behind.
If it fails
The usual failures, and what fixes each.
- The earbuds read 150 to 300 ms
- That is the usual range for standard Bluetooth audio. Turn on the earbuds' low-latency or game mode in their app if they have one, or use a headset with its own 2.4 GHz dongle or a cable for games.
- The sound turns thin when the microphone is on
- The system switched the headphones to the hands-free (headset) output, which carries the microphone. Measure on the output you will actually use: the stereo and hands-free outputs are different paths.
- Wired is slow too
- Then the delay is not the link. Close other audio apps, turn off system sound enhancements, and for a TV or soundbar switch on its game mode.
Where a browser stops
What it cannot tell you.
- The codec in use (SBC, AAC, aptX, LDAC). The browser is not told which one the link negotiated.
- The headphones' own buffering on its own. The test measures the total you hear; the wired run is how to separate the link.
- Whether a game or video player compensates. Video players usually do; games and calls cannot.
- Your own timing: ten taps and a median make the figure good to about 30 ms, not 3.
Privacy
Nothing leaves this page.
The camera and microphone are read on this page and stopped as soon as they have been measured. The clip you can play back lives in the browser's memory and is discarded when you leave. The location check discards the position. The internet test sends random bytes to this site and nothing else. The result is stored nowhere unless you ask for it by email, and then only the fact that an email was sent is kept.
Questions
Bluetooth latency test, answered
- How do I test Bluetooth earbuds latency?
- Connect the earbuds, open the test, press Play and tap along with the clicks. The median gap between each click and your tap includes the wireless link. For the link's own share, run it again on wired headphones and subtract.
- What is normal Bluetooth audio latency?
- Standard Bluetooth headphones usually land between 150 and 300 ms on this test. Earbuds with a low-latency mode, and headsets with their own dongle, read lower. Wired headphones add almost nothing of their own.
- Can this test tell which Bluetooth codec I am using?
- No. The browser is not told which codec the link uses. The system's Bluetooth settings or developer options, or the earbuds' app, may show it.
- Why is Bluetooth delay fine on YouTube but bad in games?
- A video player knows the delay and holds the picture back to match. A game or a call is live, so nothing can be held back and the whole delay shows.
- Do Bluetooth game modes really lower the delay?
- Measure it: run the test with the mode off, then on. The difference in the median is what the mode saves on your earbuds, which is the only figure that matters for them.
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