Pipewire: Fix Crackling/Choppy Audio | Linux VMs, Arch/Manjaro/EndeavourOS, etc

Watch the video:

0:00 - Intro/Explanation
0:50 - Reset Pipewire settings
2:36 - Fix Stuttering Audio (usually VMs)
4:02 - Fix Loud pops on sound start
4:55 - Other fixes
5:10 - Check if using Pipewire or Pulse Audio

If you’re using Pipewire and you’re getting issues such as crackling or choppy audio, pops when starting playback on audio or video, especially on virtual machines - This video shows you a few fixes that should help you.

Pipewire Troubleshooting: https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/pipewire/pipewire/-/wikis/Troubleshooting
Pipewire Arch Wiki: https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/PipeWire

Credit for Firefox fixes: https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=280654

sudo cp /usr/share/pipewire/pipewire.conf /etc/pipewire/
mkdir -p ~/.config/wireplumber/main.lua.d
cp /usr/share/wireplumber/main.lua.d/50-alsa-config.lua ~/.config/wireplumber/main.lua.d
sed -i “s/["api.alsa.period-size"] = [[:digit:]]/["api.alsa.period-size"] = 1024/” ~/.config/wireplumber/main.lua.d/50-alsa-config.lua
sed -i “s/["api.alsa.headroom"] = [[:digit:]]/["api.alsa.headroom"] = 8192/” ~/.config/wireplumber/main.lua.d/50-alsa-config.lua

sed -i “s/reader.parse-on-load.enabled", true/reader.parse-on-load.enabled", false/” $(find ~/.mozilla/firefox/ -name prefs.js)
sed -i “s/media.webspeech.synth.enabled", true/media.webspeech.synth.enabled", false/” $(find ~/.mozilla/firefox/ -name prefs.js)
systemctl –user restart wireplumber pipewire pipewire-pulse

Original Troubleshooting Article: https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/pipewire/pipewire/-/wikis/Troubleshooting

More info:
PipeWire Troubleshooting: https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/PipeWire
PulseAudio Troubleshooting: https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/PulseAudio/Troubleshooting

Check if using Pipewire or Pulse Audio
pactl info | grep “Server Name"Server