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Audio Latency Measurement Tool

No microphone needed. A metronome plays a steady beat through your output; you tap when you hear each beat (press Space or tap the pad). The tool measures the offset between your taps and the beats and reports your audio latency / calibration offset in milliseconds — the number you’d dial into a rhythm game or DAW.

↔ This measures output / perceived latency by tapping. For an acoustic round-trip measurement (speaker → mic), use the Mic Latency Tester instead.

Metronome

Tempo

Click volume 60 %

Idle — press Start, then tap to each beat.

Reported by browser

Base latency

—

Output latency

—

Sample rate

—

Taps used

—

Your audio latency

—ms

tap to each beat to measure

Consistency (±)—

Last tap—

Tap exactly when you hear each beat — don’t anticipate. Aim for 16+ taps; the first couple are ignored as warm-up. The average offset is your calibration value; the ± shows how consistent your taps were.

Tap offsets — each dot is one tap; centre line is the beat, right = you tapped late

How the Audio Latency Test Works

When your computer plays a sound, it doesn’t come out instantly. The audio passes through software buffers, the operating-system mixer, and the output hardware before it reaches your ears — a delay called output latency. This tool measures it without any microphone, using a method borrowed from rhythm-game calibration screens: it plays a steady metronome beat, and you tap along to what you hear. Because the sound arrives at your ears late, your taps land late by roughly the same amount. The average lateness of your taps is your audio latency / calibration offset.

The tool times each tap against the beat it was scheduled to play, using the browser’s high-resolution clock mapped to the audio clock (via getOutputTimestamp when available). It ignores the first couple of taps as warm-up and any wildly off-beat taps, then reports the average offset and how consistent your taps were.

What the number means

Average offset — how late (positive) your taps land relative to the scheduled beat. This combines the real output latency with your personal tapping tendency, which is exactly the offset you’d enter into a game or DAW so things feel in sync.
Consistency (±) — the spread of your taps. A small ± means a trustworthy measurement; a large ± means keep tapping or slow the tempo down.
Base / output latency — the browser’s own reported figures, shown for reference. These are hardware/buffering estimates; the tapped value is the perceived end-to-end offset.

Tips for a good measurement

Use the same output device (and settings) you actually use — Bluetooth headphones in particular add large, variable latency.
Tap when you hear the beat, not when you expect it. Relax into the rhythm.
Collect plenty of taps (16+). More taps tighten the average.
If your ± is large, try the 80 BPM tempo — slower beats are easier to tap accurately.

Frequently Asked Questions

How is this different from the Mic Latency Tester?

The Mic Latency Tester measures the full acoustic round trip — it plays a click and your microphone hears it — so it needs speakers and a mic. This tool needs no microphone: it measures output / perceived latency by having you tap along to a beat. Use this one to calibrate an audio offset for games or recording monitoring; use the mic tester to measure true hardware round-trip latency.

Does this need a microphone?

No. There’s no microphone access at all — it only plays sound and reads your key/tap timing. Nothing is recorded.

Is the number pure hardware latency?

Not exactly — and that’s fine. The measured offset blends the real audio output latency with your personal tapping bias (most people tap slightly early or late by a consistent amount). For calibration purposes that combined figure is precisely what you want, because it’s the offset that makes things feel in sync for you. If you need pure hardware round-trip latency, use the Mic Latency Tester or a DAW loopback.

Why ignore the first couple of taps?

It takes a beat or two to lock into a rhythm, so the earliest taps are usually less accurate. Discarding them gives a cleaner average. Keep tapping steadily and the average settles quickly.

Why is my consistency (±) so large?

Either you’re anticipating instead of reacting, the tempo is too fast for you, or your output has variable latency (common with Bluetooth). Try 80 BPM, focus on tapping right when you hear the click, and avoid wireless audio for the measurement.

Should I use headphones or speakers?

Use whatever you’ll actually be using, since the latency you want to calibrate is for that setup. Wired headphones and speakers have low, stable latency. Bluetooth devices add 100–300 ms and can vary, so calibrate them specifically if that’s your setup.

What are good and bad numbers?

For wired output, a calibration offset under ~50 ms is typical and feels responsive; 50–150 ms is noticeable but workable; over ~150 ms (often Bluetooth) is sluggish for rhythm work. There’s no single "correct" value — it depends on your hardware — but a consistent measurement (small ±) is what matters for calibration.

Is any data collected?

No. Everything runs in your browser — sound output and tap timing only. Nothing is recorded, stored, or sent anywhere.

Related Tools

← All Microphone Diagnostics Tools