Audio Issues in 8x8 Work for Desktop While Using Chrome Browser

Updated: 04/22/2024

Symptom

While making phone calls in 8x8 Work for Desktop while the Google Chrome web browser is open on your computer, you experience poor audio and video quality on the calls. This is especially troublesome on macOS systems.

Applies To

  • 8x8 Work for Desktop
  • Google Chrome
  • Windows
  • macOS

Resolution

Windows

Eliminate Google Chrome Processes
Closing Chrome and deleting running processes should immediately restore call audio and video quality without requiring a restart of the 8x8 Work application. The steps shown below are valid for Windows 7 and later systems.
  1. On your Windows computer, close the Google Chrome browser.
  2. Right-click the taskbar and click Start Task Manager.
  3. In the task Manager, click the Processes tab.
  4. Search for Chrome processes in the list and select them.
  5. Click End Process.
  6. Repeat for all Chrome-related processes.
Call quality should show immediate improvement. If call audio and video continue to be poor, contact your IT or network administrator to also review bandwidth allocations and appropriate network setup.
Best practice: To optimize total system performance (not just 8x8 applications), it is advisable to periodically close Chrome and open Chrome tabs when not in use, and to review the Task Manager for continuously running Chrome processes as described above.

macOS

Eliminate Google Chrome Processes
Closing Chrome and deleting running processes should immediately restore call audio and video quality without requiring a restart of 8x8 Work for Desktop.
  1. On your macOS computer, close the Google Chrome browser.
  2. Press Command and spacebar, then type Activity to find and launch the Activity Monitor. (Alternatively, navigate to the /Applications/Utilities folder.)
  3. Search for Chrome processes in the list and select them.
  4. At the top of the window, click the stop sign icon to end the process.
    MacQuitProcess.png
  5. Repeat for all Chrome-related processes.
Call quality should show immediate improvement. If call audio and video continue to be poor, please contact your IT or network administrator to also review bandwidth allocations and appropriate network setup.
Best practice: To optimize total system performance (not just 8x8 applications), it is advisable to periodically close Chrome and open Chrome tabs when not in use, and to review the Activity Monitor for continuously running Chrome processes as described above.

Cause

Having the Google Chrome browser open for an extended period of time—particularly with many tabs open, and with pages employing Flash—has been found to cause thread leaks, wherein many Google Chrome processes are initiated and combine to bog down a system. This strain on system resources and performance reduces the ability to handle voice and video calls.