Watching a YouTube tutorial or on a voice call with your friends, and the volume is too low? Your Windows volume slider is to the maximum, but you still cannot hear well enough?
There are methods to enhance the volume in Windows beyond the 100% mark, and this guide covers multiple approaches to help you accomplish that.
Let’s get right into it.
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Method 1: Check The Windows Volume Mixer
The built-in Windows volume mixer is a great tool that helps balance sounds produced by various programs on your PC. If you do not wish to change your overall sound level on your PC but want specific things to be more or less louder, the best way to apply those changes is by using the volume mixer.
However, it often happens for users to forget that some of the settings in the volume mixer are changed/modified based on their previous or someone else’s preferences.
That can make you wonder why some programs are still so quiet despite your Windows volume slider being set to maximum, when in reality, their volume level is a lower value in the mixer’s settings.
For example, in the screenshot below, you can see that the overall Windows volume for the default device (speakers) is on maximum, but the Discord and Chrome programs are limited to just twenty percent.
Although the volume is set to 100%, the user will not be able to hear these two restricted programs as loudly as desired.
To change this, raise the volume sliders of the programs you wish to make louder. That will fix the issue right away.
Method 2: Tweak Your Device’s Configuration Software’s Settings
Most manufacturers of peripherals and audio devices build configuration programs for their products. That is especially true with gaming brands such as Logitech, Razer, SteelSeries and more.
If you have a headset or speakers from one of the brands that comes with configuration software, we recommend downloading and installing it on your system. These programs, such as Logitech’s G-Hub or Razer’s Synapse, allow you to go into in-depth tweaking of various settings, including volume levels and other audio-altering effects and enhancements.
There are numerous cases of users wondering why the volume coming out from their device is so low when it’s set to max in the Windows volume settings panel, only to find out it’s supressed within the device’s configuration software.
Method 3: Use A Third-Party Software / Browser Extension
If you’ve checked all settings affecting the volume in Windows and still need to move the limit and go higher, you can do it by downloading and installing third-party software.
There are many programs to choose from, but we believe it’s always the optimal choice to opt for an open-source one that’s tested and approved by the community.
For Windows, we recommend Equalizer APO, an open-source, easy-to-use, lightweight software packed with many features that will allow you to boost your Windows volume beyond the 100% limit. The software is free and widely adopted by the audio enthusiasts community, so you can easily find guides and tutorials online on configuring it properly.
If you’re looking to make things louder while browsing the internet, it may be quicker and easier to opt for a browser extension instead. For Chrome, we recommend Volume Master. For Firefox, it’s 600% Sound Volume.
Both extensions are easy to use and have positive ratings and regular updates. If you wish to increase the volume beyond 100% with just a few clicks while browsing, these additions are a must.
Method 4: Using The VLC Media Player
Most people use their computers to play movies and TV shows. However, if you’re using speakers or have a mini home cinema setup, chances are you won’t be able to achieve the required volume level by just setting the volume slider in Windows to 100%.
Many users report that the default Windows Media Player is not loud enough for some activities, such as watching movies.
Luckily, there’s an easy solution for this too.
The VLC Media Player we recommend is an open-source, cross-platform multimedia player that can play almost all multimedia files you would normally come across. The best thing, however, is that its volume slider is 125% by default, but with a simple setting change, it can be set up to 300%.
If you have the VLC player installed on your system, here’s how to set the volume slider to a value three times higher than the default.
- Open VLC and wait for the program to load.
- Click Tools and then Preferences.
- At the bottom of the window, under the “show settings” section, choose All to display all settings.
- In the panel on the left side, expand the Interface category, then go to Main Interfaces and click Qt.
- In the panel on the right, scroll down and find the “Maximum Volume Displayed” setting. Set its value to 300.
- Click Save at the bottom.
Now when you open VLC, you’ll be able to adjust the volume slider up to 300%. This will help you make things three times louder compared to what’s possible with the built-in Windows Media Player.
Conclusion
That’s everything you need to understand about raising the Windows volume higher than the 100% standard value. Hopefully, these techniques will assist you in reaching the sound levels you desire and enhancing your overall experience.
Please note that sometimes the bottleneck may be caused by the device itself, as not all devices can produce the same level of volume, and some headsets are just softer compared to others.
