Update (November 5, 2024): Ultimately, a $5 USB audio adapter will be more reliable than apps for software volume control of HDMI/DP devices. If that's an option for you, go for it. I have tried SoundSource, Sound Control, eqMac, etc. In my experience, these introduce system instability and the situation hasn't improved for 10 years.
When you hook up an HDMI TV or DisplayPort monitor with built-in audio device, you might discover that you can't change the volume with the Mac software mixer any more. Volume buttons on your keyboard won't work. You're expected to use the TV remote or volume control on the device.
Here's a trick to get around this limitation. Grab Soundflower and switch the output to your HDMI or DisplayPort device as shown here:
Then option-click the speaker icon in the menu bar. Switch your Mac audio output device to Soundflower:
Here, 34UM95 is the display with audio device that won't let me adjust volume.
AlPonRock
/ December 30, 2014 QuoteWorks perfect, even the volume controls on the external keyboard!
Ludovic
/ January 14, 2015 QuoteIt works great on my DELL U3415W, thanks a lot 🙂
dan
/ February 13, 2015 QuoteWorked great but then I noticed a sound distortion, switched back to hdmi and sounded good again. Anyone else with this problem?
hutsori
/ February 16, 2015 QuoteIt works with my 34um95. But it sometimes stops working after wake up. One thing I found is you can control the volume of the warning sound without using soundflower. Only the warning sound though. Nothing else. There must be a way to control the volume without soundflower but don't know how.
Damon
/ March 14, 2015 QuoteYes.. tons of distortion for me as well.
JimmyDelta
/ March 26, 2015 QuoteI've just been controlling the volume of the individual apps (PandoraAir, YouTube, etc.) directly and leaving the system volume alone. Not ideal, but it works.
chris
/ April 24, 2015 Quoteholy crap thank you. i thought i needed an hdmi-cec adapter to control the tv volume. this works exactly as it should. i no longer need my tv remote!
chris
/ April 25, 2015 Quotethere are some issues with soundflower that cause audio delay and occasional distortion. seems like a recent bug...
Cagonet
/ June 3, 2015 QuoteWorks like a charm!
Marcus Zanona
/ July 16, 2015 QuoteThanks a lot Matt, works perfectly on 34UM95
Jody
/ July 23, 2015 QuoteI wasn't able to get it to configure correctly. I had no sound, which means something wasn't working along the way. I'm going to give it a shot again later.
Any suggestions of what to make sure I've checked?
My monitor: LG 34UM67
Michael
/ September 16, 2015 QuoteHi. Thank you. Is there a way to make a microphone plugged into a macbook bro play along with the video audio? I am giving a presentation from a macbook pro over Apple TV to a projector (and bluetooth speakers). I need the microphone hooked up to the laptop to project over the speakers as well as the video from the machine. Thank you,.
Delta_HF
/ October 1, 2015 QuoteNice tip, but I'm also getting a lot of distortion (the sound starts "glitching" every 15 seconds or so). Probably a bug in Soundflower.
Morten
/ February 23, 2016 QuoteInstalled it on Macbook Air, and it works.
But uninstalled it again after experiencing the following problems:
1. Occasional distorted sound.
2. A constant 5-7% CPU usage, even when no sound was being processed, leading to reduced battery time on my MacBook Air.
poyntz
/ February 27, 2016 QuoteThanks for the tutorial. Had some issues getting Soundflower installed using the beta binary (2.0b2) on OS X 10.10.5 Yosemite but worked perfectly with the v1.4 GitHub .Zip, using Soundflowerbed.app within the Build directory to set Soundflower 2ch Input to DisplayPort (GitHub .zip source: https://goo.gl/3UdCN7)
hennwei
/ April 12, 2016 Quotethis is a much cleaner solution.
http://osxdaily.com/2013/05/04/use-hdmi-audio-output-mac-os-x/
Michael Timpano
/ May 20, 2016 QuoteI have this same monitor. How did you manage to get audio from display port? I don't have an option as shown above.
JonnyB
/ July 6, 2016 QuoteHow is this "cleaner"? All this site does is explain how to get HDMI audio to work and states that you must use the monitor's volume adjust for HDMI audio. This doesn't resolve the issue of NOT being able to control HDMI audio with OSX volume sliders.
Jamie Morgan
/ July 19, 2016 QuoteDoes not work on OSX 10.11.5.
The Kext installed correctly with the device showing up in audio devices, but the soundflower app was not installed.
mvaneijgen
/ July 27, 2016 QuoteThe first screenshot you show is not accasble on OS 10.11.5. I can create a new device with sunflower via audio MIDI Setup in the Utilities folder, but this doesn't allow for volume adjustment via the mac.
Michael
/ August 7, 2016 QuoteI think what we really need is Sunflowerbed
macload
/ August 17, 2016 QuoteRunning OSX 10.9.5 I installed Soundflower 1.6.5 (including Soundflowerbed)…
https://soundflower.googlecode.com/files/Soundflower-1.6.5.dmg
…and followed your instructions to allow a Mini DisplayPort with USB audio to HDMI adapter to use the standard system audio volume control.
Works like a charm!
PantsOnFire
/ September 13, 2016 QuoteThis! Thanks poyntz
Install the Beta Dmg -https://github.com/mattingalls/Soundflower/releases/tag/2.0b2
Then unzip (https://goo.gl/3UdCN7) and copy the Soundflowerbed.app
NateFisher
/ October 17, 2016 QuoteOn sierra:
- Search and download for: Soundflower-1.6.6b.dmg;
- Install and copy Applications/Soundflower folder on desktop;
- Than run the unistaller and reboot;
- Now, download and install Soundflower-2.0b2.dmg;
- Copy old Soundflower (app) folder from desktop to Applications folder;
- Click on sound icon (topbar) and enable: Soundflower (2ch);
- Open Soundflower app and set "HDMI" under "Soundflower (2ch);
Enjoy 😉
Sean
/ November 21, 2016 QuoteThanks for that Nate. It did the trick.
iwan
/ November 25, 2016 QuoteLast step, where can i find the Soundflower app. not showing on aplication folder, try use spotlight also no luck.
cheers
Fachri Faisal
/ January 26, 2017 QuoteI found a solution
When install the soundflower 1.6.6b
You must customize installer,tick the "install soundflowerbed only"
Then install soundflower 2.0b2 normally
Enjoy!
bwang
/ February 16, 2017 Quote+1 this
James
/ March 3, 2017 QuoteOn macOSX Sierra, all I had to do was:
1. Download and install the latest release of Soundflower kernel from: https://github.com/mattingalls/Soundflower/releases/
2. Download and install the latest release of SoundflowerBed from: https://github.com/mLupine/SoundflowerBed/releases
And do what the above article asks to do. That's it, and now everything works fine. I can control volume of my external speakers connected via my Dell monitor through displayport, using the wireless keyboard.
Thanks to Maciej Wilczy?ski for providing SoundflowerBed 2
Thanks to Matt Ingalls for updating Soundflower kernel
And thanks to Matt Montag for writing this article that's the first hit when I googled "mac hdmi displayport speaker volume control".
James
/ March 3, 2017 QuoteAfter using it for a while, I do see the distortion. And also after the computer has been idle for a while, it'll stop working so I have to change output in SoundflowerBed from monitor to internal back to monitor for it to start working. And I can never get it to keep playing music keeping the computer screen locked or idle, it instantly stops playing as soon as I lock the computer. I'm on Sierra. Not sure if this is an issue with Soundflower or SoundflowerBed. But if any of the developers are listening, would be great to fix this. Thanks!
Idan
/ June 29, 2017 QuoteI fixed it by turning down the external monitor/tv volume and turning it up through my mac.
Hazel
/ July 26, 2017 QuoteThis method seems to take up an unreasonable amount of CPU time...
Erik
/ August 24, 2017 QuoteCheck this free solution: https://staticz.com/add-keyboard-volume-controls/
Erik
/ August 24, 2017 QuoteOr http://soundcontrolapp.com
Roger Pack
/ November 9, 2017 QuoteAnother option: using headphones that have a tiny "volume" control inline with the cord. Unfortunately with my dell monitor it *doesn't have* any volume controls within the monitor, the docs say the monitor "doesn't support headphones" LOL. Soundflower might work as well.
Grant
/ November 29, 2017 QuoteI had the same distortion issues with Soundflower, but found a YouTube that demonstrates accomplishing the same thing using the Demo version of Sound Siphon.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OD5u8Zmd21Q
It works like a charm. Just set the DisplayPort as the output in the Sound Siphon settings then set Sound Siphon as the output for the Mac. Tested on Sierra.
Alexander Rose
/ December 8, 2017 QuoteLame. Latest version doesn't have the actual app required to actually HEAR the sound.
"The soundflowerbed has been retired. You can take your chances with the old version." Old version which I cannot find anywhere.
I uninstalled Soundflower and am forced to use my monitors extremely unergonomic controls and not the wonderful volume slider on my $200 Corsair keyboard.. THANK YOU APPLE for ASSUMING what everyone likes and not giving options.