Increase The Maximum Volume On Windows 10 If The Sound Is Quiet At 100%

Some movies and songs are really quiet. And if you are trying to watch such video on a laptops without external acoustic system you won’t be satisfied with the output volume.  Besides that many laptops have very weak embedded speakers. Here are a few methods to boost the sound volume in Windows in general (including volume in browsers) and how to boost the gain of a movie or mp3 in players without editing audio/video files.

Before you do something to boost the gain…

Go to Volume Mixer…

volume mixer in Windows 10

…and ensure all your apps have the maximum volume. So if the sound in the browser is too quiet, first, launch your browser and then check the corresponding slider in the mixer:

adjust browser volume in Windows 10 mixer

Increase the maximum volume using Windows settings

Here is how to make sound play louder on Windows 10, 8 or Windows 7. This will affect:

  • the maximum volume of Windows system sounds;
  • the volume of media played on websites in your browser;
  • the volume of songs or movies played in audio/video players.

Follow the steps:

  1. Right-click the speaker icon in the Taskbar.
  2. Select “Playback devices” in the menu: sound settings Windows 10 - playback devices
  3. In the “Sound” window double click on “Speakers” in the list: sound properties - speakers
  4. In the “Speakers Properties” window go to the “Enhancements” tab.
  5. Here scroll down to the bottom of the list and set the checkbox near “Loudness Equalization” and click “OK”:

    enhancements loudness equalization
    Increase volume in Windows 10 (loudness equalization)

From now on all quiet sound will play a lot more louder.

Make Sound Louder In Specific Player Programs

If the previous method doesn’t help you increase the maximum output volume you can try the following programs.

Boost volume in Media Player Classic

Media Player Classic (MPC HC) is a very popular video player and is included into K-Lite Codec Pack. It offers great solutions to boost the sound volume. So, if your movie or track has a lack of volume and plays too quiet at 100%, try this:

  1. Click “View”.
  2. Select “Options”: mpc-hc options
  3. Head to “Internal filters” > “Audio Switcher”.
  4. Set the checkbox “Normalize”
  5. Click “Apply”: mpc-hc volume normalization
  6. You can adjust the amount of normalization, for instance, to 200%.

Besides that you can try the sound booster slider. You don’t have to click “Apply” to hear the effect: mpc-hc volume booster

Increase the sound volume in VLC Media Player

VLC Media Player allows you:

  • to increase the volume to 125% using the volume slider: 125 percent volume in VLC
  • additionally boost the gain so that the sound gets 8 times louder. And here is how.
  1. Select “Tools” > “Preferences”: vlc preferences
  2. Switch to “All” to show all available options: all preferences
  3. Select “Audio”.
  4. Increase “Audio gain”. You can change it up to 8: increase sound volume in VLC player
  5. Click “Save”.
  6. Important! Restart VLC Media Player for changes to take effect.

That’s it.

10 thoughts on “Increase The Maximum Volume On Windows 10 If The Sound Is Quiet At 100%”

  1. This rectifies Win10 being low volume.
    Increase the maximum volume using Windows settings
    Right-click the speaker icon in the Taskbar.
    Select “Speakers” in the menu:
    In the “Sound” window double click on “Speakers” in the list:
    In the “Speakers Properties” window go to the “Enhancements” tab.
    Select equalizer > click on the triple dots button > slide all to the top > save give it a name.
    Here scroll down to the bottom of the list and set the checkbox near “Loudness Equalization” and click “OK”:

    Reply
  2. thanks so much, I was thinking my hearing was degrading more than it had…volume increase noticeably…

    Reply
  3. Loudness equalization does NOT increase volume. All it does it make it seem like quiet and loud sounds played through your device sound closer to the same volume.

    Reply
    • BUT! If the audio track is not normalized the loudness equalization DOES increase volume by normalizing the sound track. And the problem is often because the movie contains not normalized audio.

      Reply
    • It compresses (or normalizes) the audio if it is not loud enough – in other words, if it hasn’t been normalized by sound engineer or creator.

      Reply
  4. this issue has been around for 5 years, windows seems incapable of offering proper sound dirvers with their only supported OS. Time to start seriously considering a linux distro, since MS doesn;t care ot make a proper product anymore.

    Reply
  5. M$ closes threads that are still relevant, NO SOLUTIONS work, the Volume is maxed at 100% and NOTHING, WHISPERS! reboot, fine for a day maybe, then back to s*** sound.
    FIX YOUR AUDIO! Win7 had no problems like this.

    Reply

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