Realtek high definition (HD) audio drivers version R2.71 is now available, adding some unspecified "driver customizations" and supporting a number of new Realtek chips.
You can download this latest Realtek HD audio driver for Windows 8, Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows XP, and more here:
Download Realtek High Definition Audio Codecs v2.71
Both 32-bit and 64-bit versions of the R2.71 driver are available.
Tip: Not sure if you should download the 64-bit or 32-bit driver? See Am I Running a 32-bit or 64-bit Version of Windows? for help.
Note: As is typical with Realtek audio driver updates, there are no listed feature additions or fixes. This update was only released to improve compatibility with newer hardware that contains the Realtek audio chipset. Because you're likely not to gain much by updating, I don't recommend you install the R2.71 update unless you were asked to do so by your hardware manufacturer's technical support or you're trying to solve an issue with your Realtek-based sound card/chipset and reinstalling the drivers is a wise troubleshooting step.
More Information About R2.71:
This Realtek HD audio driver supports the following chipsets in Windows 8, Windows 7, and Windows Vista:
ALC882, ALC883, ALC885, ALC886, ALC887, ALC888, ALC889, ALC892, ALC899, ALC861VD, ALC900, ALC660, ALC662, ALC663, ALC665, ALC668, ALC670, ALC671, ALC672, ALC676, ALC680, ALC221, ALC231, ALC233, ALC260, ALC262, ALC267, ALC268, ALC269, ALC270, ALC272, ALC273, ALC275, ALC276, ALC280, ALC282, ALC283, ALC284, ALC286, ALC290, ALC292, and ALC383.
These chipsets are supported in Windows XP and Windows 2000:
ALC880, ALC882, ALC883, ALC885, ALC886, ALC887, ALC888, ALC889, ALC892, ALC899, ALC861VC, ALC861VD, ALC900, ALC660, ALC662, ALC663, ALC665, ALC668, ALC670, ALC671, ALC672, ALC676, ALC680, ALC221, ALC231, ALC233, ALC260, ALC262, ALC267,ALC268, ALC269, ALC270, ALC272, ALC273, ALC275, ALC276, ALC280, ALC282, ALC283, ALC284, ALC286, ALC290, ALC292, and ALC383.
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Hi , Tim!
I do not understand – is it windows direct sound or Steinberg ASIO driver`s
updates? ( Realtek 889A )
Thanx & best regsrds ,
Sergey.
@Sergey: DirectSound is part of DirectX and works with your sound card driver – it’s not a driver itself. ASIO is a driver because it connects software directly to the hardware… ASIO is like a sound driver alternative, used mostly by professional sound software. These Realtek drivers are just that – the standard Windows drivers for Realtek sound chipsets.
the server hosting the drivers are crap. So download speed is like 10 kB/s.
@Jojo: I totally agree! It’s usually a pain downloading Realtek drivers. I’ll update the blog post with a warning. Thanks.
this article refers to 2011/12/16 updates there are no updates for 2012. what crap is this, screwing me up .
@mish: I’m not sure what exactly you’re saying. The last Realtek HD Audio Driver update as of today (2012-01-10) is version R2.67. There might be an update come out tomorrow or there might not be one for six months. That’s up to Realtek.
I have an HP Pavilion dv6748us and a friend of mine made it run Windows 7 now. When I got it back everything worked great, but moments later my internal mic went out. I have been on a mission to find some kind of upgrade or download for a ‘Audio Card Chip’. My computer began saying it could not detect a microphone, but its crap because it has an internal one and was working fine before. Is it the ‘upgrade’ to Windows 7 that did this to my computer? I don’t really understand all this stuff. I just need help!!
@Amy: Hi, and sorry for the late reply to your comment. It got lost in my email. Yes, when you upgraded or installed from scratch Windows 7, a driver was installed that Microsoft thought was the best fit, but may not have been. I looked at the computer stats and it looks like the sound chip might be Conexant or Realtek. You could try installing the drivers linked to from this blog post. It probably won’t hurt.
I have a Toshiba Satellite with Realtek HD Audio Driver. I was recently trying to use the Video Call feature offered by Google, but no sound was being picked up by my internal microphone. I checked the sound settings on my computer, and everything was fine (the microphone meter moved). I successfully Skyped with a friend, and they could hear me just fine.
When I went to my chat/sound settings on Google, no sound was being picked up by my microphone. I verified that I had the most up-to-date version of the Google Talk Plug-In, and that all of my browsers were up to date.
This may be more of a Google question, but could anyone provide me with some information on how to remedy this situation?? Any help would be great!
Thanks,
Josh
@Josh Angert: Sorry for the late reply. Yes, probably more of an issue with Google Talk. What browser were you using this in?
I’m having the same issue as Josh – looks like i’m using the latest audio driver, but google talk voice chat, and google hangout audio doesn’t work anymore.
Tried reverting the codec, in addition, to reinstalling google talk – double checked settings, system restore – and still no dice.
I installed that driver. Now my Stereo Mix is GONE ! This means I can no longer record internally, which is what I need to do for my music software (Sony Vegas). The driver I downloaded is R2.68 release date 3-30-2012. This makes me worse off than I was before.
@Edward: You could always roll back the driver. Also, check Control Panel for “Realtek HD Audio Manager” and see if there are some settings there that you may have missed. [R2.70]
I installed the R2.70 to enable ASIO. I encountered a less welcome side-effect. Up to now I could switch on screen from speakers to headphones without having to (un)plug the headphones; when the speakers where on (standard), the headphone was silent. Now when the speakers are on, the headphone skeeps playoing. I can’t find a way to turn them off then unplugging them, which urges me to bend over three feet. I already reported this to Realtek. My MB is MSI (W7/i5). BTW Was this update necessary to use ASIO? [R2.70]
@Nicholas: Sounds like an issue Realtek needs to solve, likely with an update to their drivers. And no, I doubt this update was necessary to us ASIO, but I don’t know for sure. [R2.70]
I installed the R2.70 as I recently installed Windows 8 Release Preview the windows 8 inbuilt works fine but when I installed R2.70 my audio became disabled. Why I face this problem if any one have any solution please help. [R2.70]
@nup: Is there a reason you’d like Realtek’s driver instead of the Windows 8 built-in one? [R2.70]
Can’t agree more with the comment about the new Reat Tek HD Audio update (May 2012)
Do not update your driver if it was working perfectly ok before.
I updated my driver thinking there would be enhancements added to new driver but instead experienced many problems including the driver not recognising my 5:1 Creative audio speakers set up.
Finally rolled back the driver to previous one and lo and behold everything back to normal.
Thanks for your warning! [R2.70]
Hello – I dont know if anyone can help but I have been searching infinitely for a solution to a problem with Realtek sound card, and people here are having similar problems so here goes:
The line in on the Realtek mixer is frozen out, I can not record to Sound Forge or any other music recording software. I can hear my guitar, Mic etc through the speakers but it wont record it, there is nothing on the Realtek mixer than I can adjust or change, only the normal volume controls, weird thing is it was working the first day I set my audio mixer/pc up and the next day the line in setting and sliders where frozen/greyed out, updated codec (R2.70), reinstalled, checked updates for windows, the only thing I can think of now is a new sound card.
Spec:
Fujitsu Scaleo P (a load of c**p)
Win XP SP3 etc
Realtek HD Audio ALC880 (Driver Version 5.10.0.6662) [R2.70]
@Scotbo: When you go to the sound options (Windows, not Realtek) in Control Panel, do you have any indication that a line-in jack exists? [R2.70]
@Tim Fisher,
Sorry forgot I posted this…durh, I just went to the control panel and have the Windows Sound and Audio Devices option and a Realtek one, when I open the windows Sound and Audio Devices properties, and go to sound> advanced> it brings up the windows mixer, it has the normal functions Master, CD, Mic Volume etc…, however like the Realtek mixer, I now have *Rear Blue in* and no actual Line in, strange…(I can hear the guitar and mic that’s coming in from my “actual” Mixer, but still cant record the stream) [R2.70]
@Scotbo: Sorry for the late reply, I promise to get back to you sooner next time! Did you ever figure this out? This isn’t a completely unheard of thing, I know that for sure, but I’m still not quite sure what to suggest. Any other information at all? [R2.70]
I cannot hear sound when playing DVD/CD audio or video on my Laptop Hp Pavilion G6. The audio driver is from IDT High Defination Audio Codec. Can you help me out. am trying to covert the driver to realtek HD Audio. What is your advice? [R2.70]
@Ayo: If you have a computer that uses an IDT chipset, then you need to use drivers from them (or from your computer or sound card manufacturer), not Realtek. However, even with that, it seems IDT prefers (makes?) you use drivers from the hardware maker that utilizes their chipsets: http://www.idt.com/landing/audio-driver-support-for-users-faq. [R2.70]
hi im not good with this kind of stuff so hopefully you understand what i mean my laptop says driver blocked due to incompatibility, what dose this mean what can i do to fix it?? [R2.70]
The latest driver has caused the Bass Management and Room Correction tabs to disappear. So now my subwoofer doesn’t work for listening to any stereo music. Surely Realtek should fix this bug or did they do it intentionally. [R2.70]
@Mike: You might have better luck using the latest driver from your sound card (or motherboard, if integrated) manufacturer. Normally it’s not a big deal, but it seems, at least lately, that Realtek’s updates are making unwanted changes. [R2.70]
i just did a clean install of win7 x64 with 2.70 as the first . i used to have room correction, bass mgt, loudness control and the sound effect i never used that one. however they are all gone, but i have a dolby home theater with all kinds of bells and whistles but does not help with room balance which the one prior did, to a minor extent. i have 5.1 logitech good set up forget the number but ok. but without room correction it is not as good anymore.
maybe a roll back to 2.67.? i believe the sound is alc889 in this board.new and improved? gigabyte 990fx ud3. [R2.70]
@JOHN D: Did Gigabyte offer a driver for sound or did they send you to Realtek? [R2.70]
I recently installed a new motherboard MSI 970A-G46. It has an on-board sound card “Realtek® ALC 892 7-Channel High Definition Audio CODEC”. I’m using 5.1 surround speakers from Microlab. Speaker fill with windows update driver, or Realteks driver from MSI website, has the same outcome.
The problem is that the back speakers, when playing music, sound like an mp3 playing at 24kbps or something of the sort. This is not the first time this has happened, and ever since windows vista, this problem has occurred in every on-board sound card i have dealt with.
The only time the rear speakers sound right, is when i test the speakers with windows, with the software from Realtek. But I just want all sound to play through them right. I don’t watch movies on this computer and usually don’t play any games, so i don’t really care about the surround affect. I just want all the speakers putting out sound in stereo.
Please help me to solve this issue. [R2.70]
@Shabbir: This sounds more like a configuration issue to me, though maybe it’s a configuration that the drivers don’t support. The problem is that you’re trying to make your 5.1-channel system act like a multi-speaker 2-channel system, correct? I’m no A/V expert, but I do know that on a non-computer surround sound system, there’s a very specific setting that makes that sound correct. Not having that exact setup at my location, I can’t try to duplicate it. Sorry if that wasn’t much help. Have you ever found anyone else with a similar problem? [R2.70]
I bought myself a Toshiba Qosmio F750 with a built in Harman Kardon speaker. Recently, I’ve checked my audio driver which is Realtek High Definition Audio (6.0.1.6339), and surprisingly the driver was dated 29/03/2011. I’ve hit the driver update option in Device Manager, but it says theres no update available. Where can I look for the update for my driver, and how do I make sure it does not affect my speaker quality? [R2.70]
@Hirako: That button in Device Manager only checks for an update via Windows Update. You’ll need to manually update the driver via the download from Realtek. As far as the speaker quality question: that’s a gamble. It shouldn’t hurt it, but looking at a lot of the comments about the latest several drivers from Realtek, it seems like anything is a possibility. [R2.70]
No driver for Ubuntu?
@Rod London: Check the link to the drivers in the post above. There are Linux drivers, I just don’t usually report on them. The latest version as of my comment is 5.17rc13.
hi there, a little help needed, i recently installed win 7, and ive had to install the sound drivers twice now, as the sound stops working , but windows is telling me it is working, each time i reinstall it works , shut down it stops- its weird. help – please email me! [R2.70]
@craig: I’m assuming you’re installing the latest sound driver direct from Realtek? Are you sure that’s the right driver? Have you checked with your motherboard or sound card manufacturer? I’d do that next… that driver might work better. [R2.70]
pls, i have install windows 8 on my dell- optiplex Gx 620 but the sound did not come. i hope u can me [R2.70]
@kwaku: I’m surprised Windows 8 doesn’t natively support that audio chipset. What does Device Manager show for your audio hardware? [R2.70]
I’m having an issue in my audio production software. I have a Realtek sound card in my computer, and when I use my software, the realtek drivers are not compatible. I currently have two alternate options: Asio, and Wasapi Shared. Using wasapi seems to work best, but the only input it allows is from the computers internal mic (Awful!) and I can’t use a USB microphone. On the other hand, asio lets me use an external mic, but it claims that the speakers are being used in another program (which they don’t seem to be). What should I do? Thanks in advance- [R2.70]
@Aaron S: In a situation like yours, with “picky” software, you should check your computer (if the sound is built-in) or sound card (if it’s not) manufacturer for drivers. Sometimes those drivers, which were made with respect to the whole card and not just the sound chipset used (i.e. Realtek), work better in cases like this. That is, of course, assuming your computer maker or sound card maker offers their own drivers… most do. [R2.70]
Realtek HD Audio Driver R2.71
Fixed my longstanding Win 7 Microphone not working problem on an Acer 5720 travelmate laptop. Been playing up for years.
Skype microphone now works. I use the 20db boost or its too quiet. [R2.71]
Thanks Waldo Hitcher for the help on the too quiet solution.
And kudos to you Tim. I was reading the questions/comments/answers and you impressed me by how you try to help each one who writes–I know it’s the nature of a forum, but still, you do it well, and ur impressive in how u answer patiently when a few posters are angry at Real-Tek or whomever. (And nope, I’m not related to Tim. Just appreciative.) [R2.71]
@Ka: Thanks! I don’t always respond right away due to my workload but I figure if I’m putting the information out there, I take a certain responsibility to continue the conversation if I can. Thanks again! [R2.71]
Realtek’s hosting is pretty crap. Use this instead.
Win Vista, 7, 8
——————–
http://www.filehorse.com/download-realtek-high-definition-audio-vista/
Win 2000, Xp
——————–
http://www.filehorse.com/download-realtek-high-definition-audio-xp/
[R2.71]
@Manny: Thanks for those links. To everyone else – there are other places as well, just be cautious and download them from a reputable source (FileHorse.com is fine). I usually recommend getting drivers direct from the manufacturer in every possible case, but I agree – Realtek’s hosting leaves a lot to be desired. The download speeds are sometimes painfully slow. [R2.71]
I am just going to go ahead and say this. I believe Realtek has destroyed two or three of my computers in the past. They produce technology that destroys other technology. Realtek should be shut down. Its products should be replaced by new tech from another company, with no connection or association with Realtek whatsoever. [R2.71]