Tray Levels

How to

Per-App Volume on Windows

Set the volume per app instead of riding the master slider. Here is how the sliders behave, and what makes them stick.

Three application channels at different volume levels, each with its own level meter. VOICE CHATGAMEBROWSER 88%52%24%
Three applications, three independent levels

Master volume is a blunt instrument. The common problem is not that everything is too loud — it is that one thing is too loud relative to everything else. A game against a voice call. A video against a notification chime. A browser tab against a music player.

Set the Volume per App

The workflow is the same whichever mixer you use:

  1. Make sure the app is actually playing audio. Silent apps do not appear in the list.
  2. Open the mixer — from the tray icon, from Settings, or from a hotkey.
  3. Drag the slider for that app alone. Master volume stays where it is.

Windows stores these levels per application, so the balance you set survives a restart of the app and, in most cases, a restart of the machine. You are setting a preference, not making a one-off adjustment.

Volume sliders per app, in one list

The practical difference with a tray mixer is that all the sliders are visible at once, next to each other, above the clock. Balancing two apps against each other is a single gesture rather than two page visits. Add a live peak meter beside each slider and you can also see which app is producing the peak you just heard — useful when an unexpected sound arrives and you want to know where from.

A common gotcha

Some apps have their own internal volume control as well — media players, browsers, games. Two sliders multiply. If an app sounds quiet even at 100% in the mixer, check the volume control inside the app before assuming the system is at fault.

When per-app volume will not help

  • The app uses exclusive mode. Some audio software takes exclusive control of the device; it will not respect a session slider.
  • The source itself is quiet. A badly mastered video is quiet at any slider position.
  • You want dynamic control. Per-app volume is static. Automatic ducking — music dropping when someone speaks — is a different category of tool.

Levels are cheap, learn them once

Most people set a balance once and then leave it alone for months: voice chat high, game moderate, browser low, notifications lower still. The value of a good mixer is not that you use it constantly. It is that the two minutes you spend setting it up do not require three trips through Settings.