How to configure 5.1 sound in Windows 11

Connecting a computer to a soundbar or AV receiver via HDMI seems simple. You plug in the cable, open a movie in the Windows player and expect the system to play 5.1 sound correctly.

However, with Windows, that is not what happens.

With simple connections (PC > soundbar > TV) you need to configure the operating system and the program you want to use to play the video.

With slightly more complex connections (PC > TV > soundbar via ARC) you need to configure all of the above and the television as well. On top of that, Windows will often detect the TV as stereo (2 channels) and will not let you send surround sound this way. Microsoft being Microsoft.

Although there are solutions for the second case—such as connecting another cable from the PC to the audio system to send the sound that way—in this article I am going to focus on the first route.

And I am taking advantage of the fact that I had to do it, as I mentioned when I explained why the i5-7500 currently offers the best value for money and why I chose it for my Home Cinema.

In my case, Windows 11 correctly detected the soundbar and recognised support for Dolby Digital, Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby TrueHD, DTS and DTS-HD. It also indicated that the connection supported up to eight channels.

Even so, when playing a movie with AAC 5.1 audio, the bar displayed only “PCM” and the rear speakers were silent.

To get surround sound, I eventually ended up configuring two media players. I will explain which ones and why.

Checks and basic concepts

Before we get down to the tutorial, it is useful to understand a few concepts and perform some preliminary checks.

What PCM sound is

PCM is an already decompressed audio format. It can contain two, six or eight channels. Therefore, seeing PCM on the soundbar does not automatically mean it is receiving stereo.

Displayed format	What it may mean
PCM 2.0	Two uncompressed channels
PCM 5.1	Six uncompressed channels
PCM 7.1	Eight uncompressed channels
Dolby Digital	Compressed AC3 audio, normally up to 5.1
DTS	Compressed DTS audio, normally up to 5.1
Dolby TrueHD or DTS-HD	High-definition multichannel audio

The important point here is to understand that properly transmitted PCM 5.1 can offer higher fidelity than Dolby Digital because it does not require another round of lossy compression.

The problem arises when the movie has six channels but the computer or another device in the chain ends up sending only PCM 2.0.

And it is not always immediately obvious, because some soundbars do not indicate whether the incoming PCM is 2.0 or 5.1.

To confirm it, simply listen for sound from the rear surround speakers. In my case, the bar displayed PCM but the rear speakers played nothing, so it was clear that the decoder was outputting two channels.

What passthrough or bitstream is

When we enable passthrough (which we could translate as “letting it pass through”), the device or player on which we enable it does not decode the audio track, but simply sends it unchanged so that the next link in the audio chain can decode it.

In our case, we will configure the Windows player not to decode the audio from the video file, but to “let it pass through” so that the soundbar or AV receiver handles it. Passthrough is the most convenient option when the file already contains a format supported by the bar or receiver. The audio formats most commonly supported by mid-range or higher soundbars and decoders are:

• Dolby Digital or AC3.
• Dolby Digital Plus or E-AC3.
• Dolby TrueHD.
• DTS.
• DTS-HD.
• Dolby Atmos based on E-AC3 or TrueHD.
• DTS:X based on DTS-HD.

By contrast, AAC—a very common format in movies downloaded from the internet, in either stereo or 5.1— is not normally sent unchanged to the decoder. The Windows player decodes it and generates multichannel PCM. However, it may do this incorrectly, fail to deliver all channels to the decoder, or the decoder may misinterpret them, resulting for example in 5.1 being reduced to stereo.

There is a solution for that too, although it is less elegant and not every Windows player offers it. I will explain it further down.

Connecting the PC to the receiver is not the same as connecting it to the TV

Remember what I said at the beginning: there are two common ways to connect the audio system to the PC. The most direct connection is:

PC > soundbar or AV receiver > television In this setup, the receiver gets the computer's audio directly and sends the picture to the television.

The other possibility is:

PC > television (HDMI ARC) > soundbar or AV receiver In this second setup, the television sits in the middle. So even if the soundbar supports a format, the television must also accept it and forward it or let it pass through.

Depending on the TV model, it may support Dolby but not DTS, accept compressed formats while reducing multichannel PCM to stereo, or block formats that the soundbar could play directly.

To keep the tutorial simple, we are going to use the direct connection.

Check the movie's actual audio format

Not every 5.1 track uses Dolby or DTS. An MKV or MP4 file may contain AC3, E-AC3, TrueHD, DTS, DTS-HD, AAC, FLAC or Opus.

You can check this with VLC, for example. Open the video file in VLC and go to:

Tools > Codec Information.

Find the audio section and check the codec, number of channels, sample rate and bitrate.

Example file: Codec: AAC Channels: 6 Sample rate: 48,000 Hz Bitrate: approximately 383 kbps

This will help diagnose problems.

Now that those basics are clear, let us start the step-by-step process, which has three different blocks:

1. Configure Windows 11. Essential for the next two.
2. Configure VLC. The simplest player and suitable for 80% of cases.
3. Configure PotPlayer. An alternative or complement to VLC. It is more complex, but will cover 100% of cases.

Block 1: How to configure Windows 11 for 5.1 or 7.1 sound

Before configuring the player, we need to make sure Windows correctly recognises the HDMI output and speaker layout.

Step 1: select the correct HDMI output

Go to

Settings > System > Sound.

Under Output, select the appropriate HDMI device. It may appear in two ways:

• With the name of the soundbar or television.
• With the name of the graphics card driver: Intel Display Audio, NVIDIA High Definition Audio or AMD High Definition Audio.

Step 2: open the classic Sound panel

1. Press Windows + R.
2. Type mmsys.cpl and press Enter.
3. On the Playbacktab, select the HDMI device and click Set Default
4. Open Properties.

Step 3: check the supported formats

In Properties, look for the tab Supported Formats.

Windows should show the maximum number of channels and the formats that the HDMI chain reports as supported: Dolby Digital, Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby TrueHD, DTS Audio or DTS-HD.

If Dolby Digital and DTS do not appear even though the decoder supports them, the problem is not in the Windows player but earlier in the chain.

Check:

• That the PC is connected to a genuine HDMI input on the receiver, without adapters.
• That the receiver is switched on.
• That the cable works.
• That the Intel, AMD or NVIDIA HDMI audio driver is installed.

Step 4: configure the speakers you actually have

Return to the Playbackwindow, select the HDMI output and click Configure.

Choose your system's actual physical layout:

• Stereo (2.0)
• Stereo with subwoofer (2.1)
• 5.1, if you have three front channels, a subwoofer and two surround speakers
• 7.1, if you have four separate surround channels.

Two important points:

1. For this tutorial you need a 5.1 or 7.1 system. You cannot expect true surround sound from a stereo system, even if you add more speakers.
2. Do not select 7.1 if your soundbar is physically 5.1. Choose 5.1.

Step 5: test each speaker from Windows

In the setup wizard, click each speaker in the diagram.

If the surround speakers work in Windows, the HDMI connection can play multichannel sound. If they do not, there is still a problem with Windows, the driver, the receiver or the connection.

Step 6: select 24-bit and 48,000 Hz

Under Properties > Advanced, use 24-bit, 48,000 Hz as a starting point if your equipment supports it. Otherwise, use 16-bit, 48,000 Hz. Most movies use audio at 48 kHz. Selecting 96 or 192 kHz does not add channels or improve a movie recorded at 48 kHz. This setting affects PCM: when we use passthrough, the compressed track is sent directly.

Step 7: disable enhancements and spatial sound

Temporarily or permanently disable:

• Audio enhancements.
• Windows Sonic for Headphones.
• Spatial sound.
• Driver equalizers or virtualisers.

Enable both exclusive-control options:

• Allow applications to take exclusive control of this device.
• Give exclusive mode applications priority.
• That completes the first configuration block.

Block 2: How to configure VLC for 5.1 sound

VLC is an extremely well-known player and is enough for most movies that use Dolby or DTS. The aim is for it not to convert the audio, but to send the track directly to the soundbar or receiver.

First of all, download it and install it normally.

Once you have it, let us configure it.

Step 1: select the HDMI device

Open VLC and go to Tools > Preferences > Audio. Make sure audio is enabled.

Under Output module you can leave Automatic. If VLC uses the wrong device—which is unusual—select Windows Audio Device output and explicitly choose the HDMI output for the soundbar or receiver.

Step 2: enable HDMI passthrough

In the same section, look for an option called HDMI/SPDIF passthrough, Use S/PDIF when available, Audio passthrough or HDMI/SPDIF direct output. The name may vary depending on the VLC version and translation.

Select Enabled. If several options appear, use the one that allows all supported formats, not only basic AC3 and DTS.

Click Save, close VLC completely and reopen it.

As an aside, I can already tell you that AAC is not compatible with passthrough in VLC. That is why we will use PotPlayer in certain cases.

Step 3: select the correct 5.1 track

Open the movie and go to Audio > Audio Track.

A single file may include Spanish 5.1, English 7.1, a stereo track, audio description or director's commentary. Do not assume VLC has selected the multichannel track.

Step 4: check the codec and expected result

Go to Tools > Codec Information.

The expected result depends on the track:

Movie codec	Expected result on the soundbar
AC3	Dolby Digital
E-AC3	Dolby Digital Plus
TrueHD	Dolby TrueHD
DTS	DTS
DTS-HD	DTS-HD
AAC 5.1	Normally PCM
FLAC 5.1	Normally multichannel PCM
Opus 5.1	Normally multichannel PCM

Step 5: check the format displayed on the soundbar

When playing a supported track via passthrough, the soundbar should display Dolby Digital, DTS, Dolby TrueHD or DTS-HD.

Possible outcomes:

• If the movie is AC3 (or DTS) and the soundbar still displays PCM, passthrough is not working and you will need to find out why.
• If it is AAC and displays PCM, that is normal: VLC is decoding the AAC because, as I said earlier, this format cannot be passed through unchanged to the decoder.

Note: Windows does not need to be configured as 7.1 to send a 7.1 track via passthrough. The player sends the complete track and the receiver adapts it to the available speakers.

What to do if VLC displays PCM and the surround speakers are silent

First check the codec. If it is AC3, DTS, TrueHD or DTS-HD, review the passthrough settings. If it is AAC 5.1, FLAC 5.1 or Opus 5.1, VLC is probably converting it to multichannel PCM.

With a direct PC-to-receiver connection, PCM 5.1 should work if Windows and the receiver are configured correctly. However, VLC may send stereo PCM, Windows may have the device configured as stereo, or the channel mapping may not match.

In these cases, the solution is to use PotPlayer and transcode AAC to Dolby Digital AC3 in real time.

That covers everything needed to enable 5.1 in VLC, but I will also add an interesting option: graphics acceleration.

Optional step: enable DXVA in VLC

DXVA lets the graphics card, integrated or discrete, help decode the video. It does not change the sound or improve image quality, but it reduces CPU load and can prevent stuttering in demanding files.

In VLC, go to Tools > Preferences > Input/Codecs.

Look for Hardware-accelerated decoding and first select Automatic.

If you encounter problems or want to test it manually, use Direct3D 11 Video Acceleration or DXVA 2.0. Save the changes, close VLC and reopen it.

Check that DXVA is working

Open Task Manager with Ctrl + Shift + Esc, go to Performance > GPU and play an H.264 or H.265 movie.

Watch the Video Decodegraph. If acceleration is active, you should see activity and CPU usage should fall.

Done: VLC is now ready to play around 80% of your videos perfectly.

But there is still a troublesome 20%, such as AAC 5.1 files…

Block 3: How to configure PotPlayer to play everything

And to play those in the best possible way, we will use another player.

PotPlayer can completely replace VLC. And, when properly configured, it gives us a few extra options.

In this case, the configuration I propose does two things:

1. It sends Dolby and DTS directly via passthrough, just like VLC.
2. But it also converts AAC 5.1 to Dolby Digital AC3 when multichannel PCM does not work correctly. VLC cannot do this.

How do we set it up?

As always, first download and install PotPlayer.

Once installed, we configure it.

Step 1: open Preferences

Open PotPlayer and press F5.

Important: the exact names may vary slightly depending on the translation, but the general structure is the same.

Step 2: select WASAPI and the HDMI output

• Go to Audio.
• Under Audio processor, select Built-in WASAPI.
• Under Passthrough device, explicitly choose the HDMI device connected to the soundbar or receiver. You can also use the default device if the decoder is set as the default in Windows.

Step 3: configure the speakers as 5.1

In the Speakers drop-down, select 3/0/2+LFE – 5.1 channels. For reference, this notation means three front channels, two surround channels and one LFE channel for the subwoofer.

Do not select 3/0/2 – 5.0 channels, because that option does not include the LFE. Also do not select Dolby Pro Logic because it is intended to create a surround effect from a stereo track, not when the movie already contains six genuine channels.

Leave these disabled: Expand stereo to centre and Expand stereo to surround.

Step 4: select 48,000 Hz

Set the output sample rate to 48,000 Hz. This is the standard rate for movie audio.

Step 5: configure the internal audio decoders

Go to Filter Control > Audio Decoder and open the internal decoder settings. For AAC select Built-in FFmpeg. PotPlayer will first decode the AAC to obtain all six channels.

For Dolby and DTS formats, enable passthrough:

• AC3.
• E-AC3.
• TrueHD.
• DTS.
• DTS-HD.

In the version used for this test, each format could be configured as Mux passthrough. Also enable S/PDIF/HDMI passthrough, Compatible connection and Use only 48,000 Hz for DTS and AC3.

The idea is that a movie that already contains Dolby or DTS is neither decoded nor re-encoded:

Video with DTS-HD audio > PotPlayer sends it unchanged > The receiver displays DTS-HD

Step 6: transcode AAC 5.1 to AC3

Return to the main Audio section and find the Output.

Select an option similar to Passthrough after AC3 re-encoding, Passthrough after AC3 encoding, S/PDIF after AC3 encoding or Re-encode to AC3.

This is what will happen:

Video with AAC 5.1 audio > PotPlayer decodes it with FFmpeg > PotPlayer generates Dolby Digital AC3 5.1 > HDMI > The soundbar displays Dolby Digital In my case, this was the change that made the surround speakers start working.

Why I chose AC3 instead of DTS

PotPlayer can also transcode to DTS in real time.

In theory, DTS can use a higher bitrate and apply less additional compression. However, that does not mean it can recover quality already lost in the original AAC track. In practice, this transcoding option is less compatible and causes more problems.

Does AC3 offer better quality than PCM?

No. Transcoding AAC to AC3 adds a second round of lossy compression.

Technically, it would be better to send decoded AAC 5.1 as PCM 5.1, provided all six channels arrive correctly, which was not the case for me. We do this not because AC3 improves the file's fidelity, but because it fixes the multichannel routing. In other words, this setting takes us from the initial stereo output to sending the correct sound through each channel: centre, fronts, subwoofer and surrounds.

That completes the audio setup in PotPlayer. But you may also want to enable hardware video acceleration.

Optional step: enable DXVA in PotPlayer

Go to Filter Control > Video Decoder and open Built-in Video Codec/DXVA Settings. Enable:

• Use DXVA.
• Use D3D11 DXVA first (optional).
• H.264/AVC: VLD Bitstream Decoding.
• H.265/HEVC: VLD Bitstream Decoding.
• Resolution limit: Automatic.

Under Copy-back, initially select Do not use.

If you see a black screen, flickering or strange colours, disable only Use D3D11 DXVA first and leave DXVA enabled.

Check hardware decoding

During playback, press Tab.

PotPlayer will display technical information about the file and the filters in use.

Look for a reference to DXVA, D3D11, H/W, Hardware decoder or VLD. You can also check the Video Decode graph in Task Manager.

Recommended final PotPlayer configuration

Section	Recommended setting
Audio processor	Built-in WASAPI
Passthrough device	Receiver HDMI device
Speakers	3/0/2+LFE – 5.1
Sample rate	48,000 Hz
AAC	Built-in FFmpeg
AC3, E-AC3 and TrueHD	Passthrough
DTS and DTS-HD	Passthrough
Multichannel AAC	AC3 transcoding
DXVA	Enabled
D3D11 DXVA	Enabled
H.264 and H.265	VLD Bitstream Decoding
Stereo expansion	Disabled

Compared with VLC, what we have gained here is the ability to hear 5.1 in videos with AAC audio that do not reach our AV receiver correctly as PCM 5.1.

Alternatives to VLC and PotPlayer

My recommendation is to install both players, but you have other options.

Kodi

Kodi is designed as a media centre for managing movies, series, artwork and complete libraries. It can send AC3 and DTS via passthrough, decode multichannel audio, transcode some formats to AC3 and use hardware acceleration.

Once configured, it is simpler than PotPlayer, especially if you use the computer as a permanent media centre. Its drawback is that the interface is designed for viewing from the sofa and managing libraries, rather than quickly opening any file from Windows File Explorer.

And I personally prefer browsing folders the old-fashioned way.

Xiaomi TV Box and other external players

Another option is to use a standalone player such as a Xiaomi TV Box, an Android TV device or similar hardware. The process is usually simpler:

External player > HDMI > soundbar or receiver > television A minimal device setup to tell it to bitstream the audio, and that is it.

You can play movies via streaming, from a USB drive, a network folder, a media server or a NAS.

The advantage of these devices is that they simplify the experience, but offer less control than a PC.

Incidentally, you also need to check the compatibility of each player, because not all of them support passthrough for DTS-HD, TrueHD or multichannel PCM.

Conclusions

To play 5.1 sound correctly in Windows 11, simply connecting HDMI and selecting a multichannel track is not enough. You need to check which format the movie uses and decide which device will decode it.

When the track contains Dolby or DTS, VLC with passthrough is usually sufficient. You only need to select the HDMI output, enable direct output and make sure the selected track is genuinely multichannel.

The problem arises with formats such as AAC 5.1, where correct playback becomes more complicated because of the player, Windows or the decoder.

In any case, if you follow the tutorial to the letter, you will have working 5.1 sound in your Home Cinema using Windows.