Troubleshoot Meet network, audio, and video issues as an admin

After you set up your network and start using Google Meet, use the following information to help with audio and video quality and connecting to meetings.

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Troubleshoot audio and video quality

Measure latency

If you're having a problem with video quality, make sure your network latency is low and consistent. Video quality is optimal when Meet traffic takes the shortest path between the client and Google. For example, it's best to have round-trip latency (RTT) between the client and Google lower than 100 ms. Meet media quality is reduced if latency is too high, such as 300 ms or more.

Note: Admins can choose a specific region where data is stored. Users located outside that region might experience higher latency in some cases. For details, see Data regions: Choose a geographic location for your data.

To measure latency, you can:

Ping the Google Meet media front-end server for at least 4 hours.
> ping lens.l.google.com PING lens.l.google.com (74.125.143.127): 56 data bytes 64 bytes from 74.125.143.127: icmp_seq=0 ttl=47 time=25.424 ms 64 bytes from 74.125.143.127: icmp_seq=1 ttl=47 time=25.271 ms 64 bytes from 74.125.143.127: icmp_seq=2 ttl=47 time=26.262 ms 64 bytes from 74.125.143.127: icmp_seq=3 ttl=47 time=26.085 ms 64 bytes from 74.125.143.127: icmp_seq=4 ttl=47 time=26.219 ms

Make sure your latency is consistent at 100 ms or less. Don't average the values because it can hide spikes and intermediate latency problems.

If your latency is not 100 ms or less, use the traceroute utility to print out the network path from your current machine to the Meet media front-end. This path should be as short as possible, for example:

> traceroute lens.l.google.com

On Chromebooks, enter:

> tracepath lens.l.google.com

Measure and optimize bandwidth

You can use third-party, network-monitoring tools to identify bottlenecks for Meet traffic. Meet traffic can be identified by its protocol (UDP) and port range.

If your network does not allow network-monitoring tools, you can:

Run a test meeting.
Use a WebRTC test tool to help identify bottlenecks.

Users experience poor audio quality

To troubleshoot poor audio quality, you need to check users' audio peripherals and look for network issues.

Check users' computer and mobile device peripherals

In the user's Meet settings, make sure the correct microphone and speaker is selected. For details, see Change your computer’s video and audio settings.
If the user is on a Mac, go to System Preferences Sound Input and uncheck the Use ambient noise reduction box.
Note: This option is not available on all Macs.

Troubleshoot the speakermic

If you're using a Chromebox for meetings, use a speakermic for the best audio.
Place the speakermic close to meeting participants and in their direct line of sight.

For more details, see the Meet speakermic Quick Start Guide.

Review custom camera or microphone setups

Do not use the camera's microphone for optimum echo cancellation.
Make sure that the microphone and speaker volume and gain are set correctly. Too much gain or sensitivity can cause an echo or audio stuttering.
Make sure that the microphone and loudspeaker are connected to the same audio clock (soundcard or DSP/mixer) and that no other non-linear blocks are in the signal path (for example, no TV processing or extra mixers).

Tip: If you're on a computer, use a headset to help with audio quality. Headsets can isolate background noise and prevent audio leakage. For best results use a headset with a boom microphone.

Check for network issues

If the audio drops for a long period of time, an unstable network might be the problem. Narrow down the issue as much as possible, such as to a location or network segment. Then, consider the following possibilities:

If you're using a Bluetooth headset, charge the headset before starting a meeting.
If the problem goes away when participants mute themselves, it's likely an issue with the audio peripherals. See Check users' computer and mobile device peripherals (above).

Users have no audio

Tell your users to:

Make sure that the microphone or speaker is not muted. If Audio next to the person's profile image is not moving, Meet is not receiving audio from that user.
If a user is muted, you'll see Mute on next to their profile image.
Make sure the microphone or speaker is not muted on their device, such as in the system settings or through a mute button.
Check that the correct microphone and speaker are selected in the Meet settings. If a wireless headset is selected as a peripheral but is not used during a meeting, it can give the impression that audio is not working.
Check that the speaker volume is not muted. Do you hear anything when More next to the participant's image is moving?
On computers using Apple macOS Mojave version 10.14 or later, you must allow Chrome Browser and Mozilla Firefox to access your computer's microphone using the new privacy settings. Otherwise, Meet will not include audio from your device.
To allow access to your computer's microphone:
1. Go to System Preferences Privacy & Security.
2. Select Microphone.
3. Next to Google Chrome or Firefox, check the box.

Users experience poor video quality

Poor video quality can be due to network issues or insufficient lighting in the room. To identify the problem:

Make sure that the sender and receiver devices have enough CPU power and memory.
Narrow down the issue as much as possible, such as to a location or network segment.
Identify if the issue is on the sender or receiver side. For example, if all viewers are receiving poor video quality from the same participant, it's likely to be a sender-side issue. Check the sender-side or receiver-side issues described below.
Reduce bandwidth usage by setting the default for video quality.

Troubleshoot sender-side issues

In the user's Meet settings, check that the Send resolution (maximum) is set to High definition (720p). To find the settings, see Adjust your video quality.
Make sure the correct camera is selected. For details, see Change your computer’s camera or video quality.
Make sure the camera meets your video-quality requirements.
Verify that the camera is working correctly by running a test meeting in a controlled environment.
Check that the user's device has sufficient CPU power and memory.
Measure the bandwidth and latency in your network to verify they meet the requirements. For details, see Prepare your network.

Troubleshoot receiver-side issues

In the user's Meet settings, check that Receive resolution (maximum) is set to High definition (720p). To find the settings, see Change your computer’s camera or video quality.
If the video freezes for a long period of time, an unstable network (such as Wi-Fi dropping) might be the issue. For details on network requirements, see Prepare your network for Meet meetings.
At the receiver’s location, measure the bandwidth and latency in your network to verify they meet the requirements. For details, see Prepare your network for Meet meetings.

Troubleshoot connecting to Meet

Users can't join meetings

Make sure users:

Are using a supported browser. For details, see supported web browsers
Entered the correct meeting code or clicked the correct link.
Are invited to the meeting. Users can't join anonymously unless an administrator contacts Google Workspace support to request an exception.
Are using a valid meeting code.
- If you are the meeting organizer, you can create a new meeting.
- If you are a participant, you can ask the meeting organizer for a new meeting code.

If the above solutions don't help, make sure meeting owners' accounts are current and not deactivated.

Users are dropped from meetings

Users can be dropped from meetings due to:

An unstable network that caused the connection to be dropped. For help, see Wi-Fi best practices.
Someone removed the participant from the meeting. The removed participant will see the message Someone has removed you from the meeting. To add them back, see Add or remove people from a Google Meet meeting.

Users can't find Meet in Gmail

If people in your organization can't find Meet in Gmail: