Narrator guide

How to stop Google Chrome from adjusting your microphone volume

If your mic level keeps moving on its own while you record, it is not your microphone, it is Chrome’s automatic gain control. Here is how to switch it off in a couple of minutes and confirm the fix worked.

Automatic gain control (AGC) is a browser feature that constantly nudges your microphone level toward a target loudness. On a video call it keeps you audible. When you are recording or narrating, where you have already set your level on purpose, it quietly undoes your work and makes your audio drift between takes.

The good news: it is a browser behavior, so you can turn it off in the browser. Here is the fix, step by step, plus a way to confirm it actually worked.

Step 1

Confirm the browser is the culprit

The behavior people describe is a microphone level that moves on its own: you set it, and a few seconds into talking it has crept up or dropped down. In Chrome, that is almost always automatic gain control (AGC), a feature that rides your input toward a target loudness.

Open our free microphone test and start it with automatic gain control left on the browser default. Go quiet for a few seconds and watch the level climb by itself. That drift is what you are about to switch off.

Step 2

Turn off the Chrome input-volume flag

Chrome does not put this in its normal Settings menu, but it does have a switch under its experimental flags. In the address bar, go to chrome://flags. In the search box at the top, type "input volume".

Find the flag named "Allow WebRTC to adjust the input volume" and set its dropdown to Disabled. Chrome will prompt you to relaunch: do it. This stops Chrome from reaching out and moving your actual microphone input level, which is the drift you saw in step one.

Step 3

If the flag is missing, use an extension

Chrome occasionally renames or removes flags, and work or school computers sometimes hide them entirely. If you cannot find the flag, there is a free extension called "Disable Automatic Gain Control" on the Chrome Web Store that switches AGC off for sites that request your mic.

The extension approach also goes one step further than the flag: it turns off the software side of automatic gain control, not just the hardware level, so it is a good choice if your level is still being smoothed even after the flag is disabled.

Step 4

Set your input level in your operating system

On macOS, open System Settings, then Sound, then the Input tab, and set the input volume while watching the level meter as you speak. On Windows, open Settings, then System, then Sound, choose your microphone, and set its input level there.

Now that Chrome is not overriding you, the level you set is the level you keep. Aim for your loudest lines to register clearly without pinning the meter, and leave yourself some headroom.

Step 5

Confirm your level now holds steady

Go back to the microphone test and start it again. This time, go quiet and then loud, and watch the meter. It should follow your voice naturally and settle where you set it, instead of creeping on its own.

If it still drifts, double check that Chrome actually relaunched after you changed the flag, and consider adding the extension from step three to cover the software side as well.

See it happen, then see it fixed

The easiest way to trust the fix is to watch it. Our free microphone test shows your live input level and whether automatic gain control is on, so you can see your gain drift before you change the flag, and see it hold steady afterward. It runs in your browser and records nothing.

Open the microphone test Full mic-testing guide

Chrome and your microphone, answered

Why does Chrome keep changing my microphone volume?

Chrome applies automatic gain control (AGC) by default when a website uses your microphone. AGC raises your input when you are quiet and lowers it when you are loud to hit a target loudness. It helps on video calls and gets in the way when you have set your level on purpose, like when recording or narrating.

Is there a setting in Chrome to turn this off?

Not in the normal Settings menu. The switch lives under Chrome’s experimental flags. Go to chrome://flags, search for "input volume", set "Allow WebRTC to adjust the input volume" to Disabled, and relaunch. There is no checkbox for it in Privacy and security or Site settings.

Does the Chrome flag turn off all microphone processing?

No. The flag stops Chrome from adjusting your hardware input volume, which is the level that visibly drifts. It does not disable echo cancellation or noise suppression, and a software layer of automatic gain control can still normalize loudness. To switch off automatic gain control completely, use the "Disable Automatic Gain Control" extension, which forces it off for the capture.

Will the flag come back after a Chrome update?

It can. Experimental flags are not guaranteed to stay, and a major Chrome update can reset or rename them. If your gain starts drifting again after an update, revisit chrome://flags and re-disable it, or use the extension, which is more stable across versions.

Does this affect other apps or just Chrome?

The Chrome flag and the extension only change how Chrome captures your microphone. They do not touch other browsers or standalone apps. That said, because the flag stops Chrome from moving your actual input volume, it can prevent Chrome from stepping on the level another app is recording from the same microphone.

Set it once. Catch it live.

PromptVO follows your voice as you narrate and flags misreads before they become pickups. Free hours every month to start.

Start free

Free hours every month. No credit card required.