Troubleshoot Meet network, audio, & video issues

Use the tips and info in this article to troubleshoot Google Meet network and audio/video quality issues for your business or school.

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Troubleshoot audio & video quality

Measure latency

Video quality is highest when round-trip latency between the client and Google is lower than 100 ms. Meet media quality is reduced if latency is 300 ms or more. To measure latency, you can:

Ping the Google Meet media front-end server for at least 4 hours.
> ping lens.meet.l.google.com PING lens.meet.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

If your latency is too high, use the traceroute utility to print out the network path. This path should be as short as possible. On Chromebooks, enter:

> tracepath lens.meet.l.google.com

Check data regions

Admins can choose to store data in a specific region. Users outside that region might experience higher latency. For details, see Data regions: Choose a geographic location for your data.

Measure & optimize bandwidth

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

If your network does not allow network-monitoring tools, identify bottlenecks by:

Running a test meeting.
Using a WebRTC test tool.

Users experience poor audio quality

To troubleshoot poor audio quality, check users' audio devices and look for network issues.

Check users' computer & mobile device peripherals

In the user's Meet settings, make sure the correct microphone and speaker are selected. For details, go to 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.
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.
Put the speakermic close to meeting participants and in their direct line of sight.

For more details, go to the Meet speakermic Quick Start Guide.

Review custom camera or microphone setups

If the space is prone to echos, do not use the camera's microphone.
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 the mic and speaker are connected to the same audio clock.
Make sure no non-linear blocks are in the signal path.

Best practice: Use a headset with a boom microphone. Headsets can isolate background noise and prevent audio leakage.

Check for network issues

If the audio drops for a long period of time, the problem might be an unstable network. If the problem goes away when participants mute themselves, it's likely an issue with the audio peripherals. Try to narrow down the issue as much as possible, like to a location or network segment.

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.
Check that the correct microphone and speaker are selected. If a wireless headset is selected but not used, it can look like audio isn't working.
Check that the speaker volume is not muted. Do you hear anything when More next to the participant's image is moving?
On macOS Mojave 10.14 or later, you have to allow Chrome and Firefox to access your microphone. 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 Chrome or Firefox, check the box.

Users experience poor video quality

Bad video quality can be due to network issues or poor 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's location as much as possible.
Identify whether the issue is on the sender or receiver side. If all viewers are receiving poor video quality from the same participant, it's likely to be a sender-side issue.
Reduce bandwidth usage by setting the default for video quality.

Troubleshoot sending issues

In the user's Meet settings, set the Send resolution to High definition. To find the settings, see Improve your video & audio experience.
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
Check that the user's device has enough CPU power and memory.
Measure the bandwidth and latency in your network to verify they meet the requirements. For details, see Prepare your network for Meet meetings and live streams.

Troubleshoot receiving issues

In the user's Meet settings, set the Receive resolution to High definition. For details, see Change your computer’s camera or video quality.
If the video freezes, you might have an unstable network. 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 and live streams.

Troubleshoot connecting to Meet

Users can't join meetings

Make sure users:

Are using a supported browser. For details, go to Use a supported web browser.
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 these solutions don't help, make sure the meeting owners' accounts are current.

Users are dropped from meetings

Users can be dropped from meetings due to:

An unstable network. For help, go to 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:

Make sure Google Meet is on for your organization. For details, go to Turn on Meet meetings and calls for your organization
If you use the Google Workspace for Education Plus edition, allow users to create Meet meetings. For details, go to Set up Meet (for education admins).
Tell users to enable Meet in their Gmail settings. For details, go to Start or join a video call from Gmail.
Get tips for setting up the new Gmail experience for your organization. For details, go to Set up integrated Gmail for your organization.

Still need help?

If you have access to the admin console, you can use it to Contact Google Workspace support.

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