The single volume slider in the taskbar controls everything at once, which is fine until a notification chimes at full blast in the middle of a video call, or a browser tab starts autoplaying an ad while your music is already at a comfortable level. Windows has had a per-app volume mixer for years, and most people never open it because the taskbar slider is the only one they've ever needed — until the day one app's audio needs to be independently adjusted.
Opening the Volume Mixer
Right-click the speaker icon in the taskbar and choose "Open volume mixer" (on older builds it may say "Open Volume Mixer" directly, on newer ones it's under Sound settings → Volume mixer). This shows every app currently producing or capable of producing audio, each with its own slider, independent of the master volume.
- Lower a specific app without touching everything else — drag that app's slider down while leaving your music, calls, or system sounds untouched.
- Mute one app entirely by clicking its speaker icon in the mixer, useful for background apps that occasionally play unwanted alert sounds.
- Levels persist per app across most sessions, though some apps reset their mixer level after an update or reinstall, so it's worth a quick check if something suddenly sounds louder than you remember setting it.
Routing Different Apps to Different Output Devices
Beyond volume, the same Settings → Sound page lets you assign specific apps to specific output devices under "App volume and device preferences" (called Volume Mixer directly on newer builds). This is the setting that lets you send a video call to your headset while music keeps playing through your desk speakers, or keep notification sounds on your laptop's built-in speaker even while your main audio goes to an external monitor's speakers or a dock.
- Go to Settings → System → Sound.
- Scroll to "Advanced" or "App volume and device preferences."
- Each running app with audio gets its own output device dropdown — change it independently of the system default.
- Set the app's own volume slider on the same page, separate from the master volume.
Why This Matters More With Multiple Audio Devices
If you regularly switch between headphones, a headset with a mic, and desk speakers, per-app routing avoids the constant back-and-forth of changing the single default output device every time you plug something in. It's especially useful during video calls: routing the call app to a headset while keeping everything else on speakers means you don't have to mute your music manually every time someone joins a meeting.
Common Frustrations and Fixes
Browser tabs are the most common source of unwanted audio, and modern browsers let you mute individual tabs by right-clicking them directly, which is faster than hunting for the browser in the system mixer — useful to know alongside general browser tab management. If an app doesn't appear in the mixer at all, it usually means the app hasn't produced any audio yet during the current session — the mixer only lists apps that have played sound since Windows started or since the app launched, so open the app and let it make a sound once before expecting to see its slider.
If volume mixer settings keep resetting on their own, check whether a "spatial sound" or third-party audio enhancement app installed alongside your sound card drivers is overriding Windows' own mixer — these utilities sometimes manage their own volume layer that conflicts with the built-in one, and disabling the third-party enhancement usually restores normal mixer behavior.
Keyboard Shortcuts Worth Knowing
Most keyboards' dedicated volume keys control the master volume only, not individual apps — there's no default keyboard shortcut for per-app volume, which is why the mixer window itself, or a small always-visible volume slider tool, remains the fastest way to make quick adjustments during a call or a stream without alt-tabbing through several windows.
The volume mixer is one of those settings pages most people discover by accident and then wonder how they lived without — once you've routed a call to your headset while music keeps playing on speakers, going back to a single shared volume slider feels like a downgrade.