If you have an older sound card or the above steps don't work, installing universal ASIO drivers has helped some users.

If you want, tell me your OS (Windows/Linux), audio device (USB, onboard, Bluetooth), and whether you run mods or use Proton; I’ll give exact commands/settings.

(Invoking related search suggestions.)

audio crackling a recognized issue, often appearing as a persistent popping or distorted "static" that builds up during gameplay

. It is frequently linked to how the game interacts with specific hardware, particularly external audio interfaces. Common Fixes Adjust Sample Rate : Many users report that increasing the sample rate to 88200 Hz or higher

in Windows sound settings (or your audio interface's control panel) resolves the issue. If your hardware doesn't support that, try cycling between 44.1 kHz and 48 kHz to reset the audio engine. Modify Buffer Size

: For those using external DACs or interfaces (like Focusrite or Behringer), lowering the buffer size to 256 or less

(as low as 16 if stable) has been reported to eliminate crackling. Disable Audio Enhancements : In Windows, go to Sound Settings Device Properties uncheck "Enable audio enhancements" Change Audio Output

: If using a dedicated sound card or interface, switching to your PC’s onboard audio (default motherboard jack) can bypass the bug entirely. Steam Deck Specifics

: If crackling occurs after waking the device from sleep, restarting the game is often necessary. Some users find the "Pause Games" Decky plugin helps prevent this during sleep transitions. Restart the Game

: In many cases, especially during intensive endgame runs with heavy particle effects, the audio engine can "break," and a full game restart is the only temporary fix. Technical Troubleshooting

The most frequent cause is a mismatch between your hardware settings and what the game expects. Right-click the Speaker icon in your taskbar and select Sound settings More sound settings (or Sound Control Panel). Right-click your active playback device and select Properties tab, set the "Default Format" to 24-bit, 48000 Hz (Studio Quality)

Ensure "Allow applications to take exclusive control of this device" is 2. Adjust In-Game Audio Buffer

If your CPU is struggling to keep up with the physics and audio simultaneously, increasing the buffer can stop the "stuttering" sound. Look for the Audio Buffer Size (or similar latency setting).

Increase this value. Note that while higher values stop crackling, they can introduce a slight delay between an action and its sound. 3. Disable Steam Overlay and Recording Software

is extremely CPU-heavy because every pixel is simulated. Background overlays can steal enough cycles to cause audio dropouts. Steam Overlay: Right-click

in Steam > Properties > General > Uncheck "Enable the Steam Overlay while in-game." Disable the Discord Overlay in User Settings. Nvidia ShadowPlay/Instant Replay: Turn this off temporarily to see if the crackling stops. 4. High CPU Priority Forcing Windows to prioritize processing can stabilize the audio stream. Ctrl + Shift + Esc Task Manager Right-click Set Priority , and change it to 5. Config File Tweaks

If the menu options aren't enough, you can manually check the configuration file. Navigate to %AppData%..\LocalLow\Nolla_Games_Noita\save_shared\ config.xml with Notepad. Search for audio_driver audio_buffer . Some users find success changing the driver string to directsound

specifically if it is currently blank or generic, though this is an advanced step. 6. Power Management Settings

If you are on a laptop or a PC with aggressive power saving, your CPU might be "downclocking" during less intense moments, causing the audio sync to break. Control Panel Power Options High Performance Ultimate Performance

If the crackling only happens during massive explosions (like a Giga Black Hole or massive chain reactions), this is often a limitation of the engine's physics-to-audio sync and may not be fully "fixable" without a faster CPU. performance mods

that can help reduce the CPU load during heavy physics segments?

This is a common issue in Noita caused by the game’s heavy CPU load affecting the audio thread, or buffer mismatches in the FMOD sound engine.

Below is a design document for a "Noita Audio Crackling — Diagnostic & Mitigation System." This feature introduces an in-game audio profiler and a "Smart Buffer" system to dynamically prevent audio dropouts without forcing players to manually edit .cfg files.

Because the developers have not released an official patch as of 2025, the community has reverse-engineered several solutions. These range from simple Windows toggles to deep NVIDIA control panel tweaks.