How to restore Apple's default AirPlay latency

Updated 2026-10-06

Ask AI ChatGPT Claude Perplexity AI Mode Grok

To restore Apple's default AirPlay latency, delete the audioLatencyMs key from root's com.apple.airplay preferences and restart AirPlayXPCHelper. In Lagless, turn the switch off. Either way macOS goes back to its standard 2000 ms buffer, and your speaker needs choosing again.

With Lagless

Click the speaker icon in the menu bar and turn the switch at the top off. Lagless deletes the setting, removes the preferences file if nothing else is in it, and restarts AirPlay. To remove Lagless entirely, choose Uninstall Lagless….

In Terminal

sudo defaults delete com.apple.airplay audioLatencyMs
sudo killall -9 AirPlayXPCHelper

If the first line says the key doesn't exist, the default is already in effect.

Checking it worked

Pick your AirPlay speaker again. Lagless's panel should show about 2000 ms, or sudo defaults read com.apple.airplay audioLatencyMs should report that the key doesn't exist.

Questions

Will removing it break anything?

No. It returns macOS to exactly the behaviour it had before the setting existed.

Sources