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I have a 13" MacBook Pro with TouchBar, 2018.

Since some time I'm having video and audio problems. What usually happens is:

  • I'm listening music (Spotify/Youtube), watching a movie/serie (Netflix (Safari/Chrome)).
  • Suddenly the video stops. It seems paused, but I can still pause it (so, it isn't paused, but not playing either).
  • I can now try to play it again, which doesn't work. The video is stuck.
  • After a while (20 seconds) the video plays again, but the audio doesn't. After 30s-2min the audio comes back as well.

This happens every ~5 minutes. It seems to happen in different programs (browsers, spotify, VLC). I clean-installed the Mac. And if I remember correctly, it was there before Catalina.

Also, I noticed several times that the audio-control buttons on the TouchBar get greyed-out/disabled for a second, as well as the audio-icon in the top bar of the screen. This somehow makes me think that it's a hardware problem, but I haven't found people having this problem, only where the video stops but the audio continues.

Is anyone familiar with this issue? With this information, is this likely to be a hardware or software problem?

EDIT: I have found users with the problem where the video stops, while the audio continues. And this apparently doesn't happen in a private (Safari) tab. I also tried this, but this doesn't solve it, unfortunately.

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  • I'm assuming the pausing/stuttering is not network related? Does it happen to other devices on the same network?
    – fsb
    Commented Nov 22, 2019 at 22:16
  • No, it's definitely not network related. It doesn't happen on other devices, but happens on this MacBook on different (high speed) networks.
    – Jeroen
    Commented Nov 22, 2019 at 22:17
  • Maybe also good to mention, it also happens when (wireless/wired) headphones are connected.
    – Jeroen
    Commented Nov 22, 2019 at 22:18
  • It 'also happens' or 'only happens' when headphones are connected?
    – fsb
    Commented Nov 22, 2019 at 22:24
  • Also. It happens in all cases; using the internal speakers of the MacBook, or an external audio source.
    – Jeroen
    Commented Nov 22, 2019 at 22:26

1 Answer 1

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I don't know if this is an answer, writing here because I cannot comment yet.

I had the same problem since yesterday. within 5 mins, both my video and audio would freeze and would work fine within the next 2 mins. I tried a bunch of thing. Which might have fixed the problem. 1. I was postponing my Catalina update. When I encountered this problem, I went ahead and updated it. 2. I made sure I switch off my bluetooth while not connected to other devices. 3. I figured Snap Camera was the real cause of this whole problem. The first time I encountered the problem was when I was on a call and tried to stop/quit snap camera that was running behind. So getting rid of it may have helped. I will continue to test it and post any updates I find.

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