Fixing A/V Sync in Zoom and Microsoft Teams Video Calls

Zoom and Teams A/V Sync: Fix Lip-Sync Issues for Video Calls

Before joining an important call, measure the webcam and microphone path you plan to use. Zoom and Teams do not behave like OBS Studio. They process audio and video inside their own meeting pipelines, and the correction path depends on what each app exposes to you. Zoom documents a 30 to 50 ms audio latency target for Live Performance Audio, which is useful context but not the same as a general A/V sync slider.¹ Teams exposes an Audio / Video Sync telemetry metric for meeting quality troubleshooting, with values from -900 ms to 900 ms and a sign that tells you which modality is behind.²

Measuring your offset before a call tells you whether the problem is small enough to tolerate or large enough to require a workaround. The 5-clap test gives you a practical starting value before you join the meeting, then a short test call confirms whether the app's own processing changed the final result.

Why meeting apps handle sync differently

Zoom and Teams can apply audio processing, echo cancellation, noise suppression, video scaling, and network buffering before other participants see or hear you. Zoom's professional audio documentation focuses on audio latency for Live Performance Audio rather than a universal A/V sync offset, so a Zoom number from one feature does not prove that every meeting path is corrected the same way.¹

Teams makes A/V sync visible to administrators through real-time telemetry. The Audio / Video Sync metric is measured in milliseconds, ranges from -900 ms to 900 ms, and is calculated as audio delay minus video delay, so a positive value means audio is behind and a negative value means video is behind.² That telemetry helps diagnose whether a capture device or network issue delayed one modality more than the other, but it is not the same as a consumer-facing offset knob in the meeting window.

The important distinction is simple. OBS gives you an editable delay value for sources you control. Zoom and Teams absorb your devices into their own pipelines, then expose only selected settings. Measuring first prevents you from chasing the wrong control. The browser test isolates the hardware timing relationship between your specific webcam and microphone, while the meeting app adds its own network buffering and processing layers on top, so the final in-app sync can differ from the browser measurement by a meaningful amount.

Why meeting apps differ from OBS

OBS exposes source-level timing controls you can adjust directly, while Zoom and Teams keep most timing decisions inside their own meeting pipelines. The browser measurement still helps you choose a stable microphone path, but the final call should be verified inside the app you use. Each meeting app applies its own internal buffering and processing after the browser hands off the media streams, so the offset you measured outside the app can shift once the meeting pipeline adds its own delay. Running a quick test call with a visible clap gesture after you join gives you a real-world check that the correction holds inside the actual meeting environment.

Plan to re-check sync after any major app update. Meeting software ships pipeline changes that can alter internal buffering, so a correction that held last month may drift after an update. The browser measurement stays a good baseline, but the only number that proves the call is in sync is the one you confirm during a live test meeting with your real camera and microphone.

Finding sync controls in Zoom and Teams

In Zoom, start with Settings > Audio > Advanced and look for any sync, delay, or professional audio control available in your client version. Zoom's advanced audio documentation covers audio processing features such as echo cancellation, original sound, high fidelity music mode, and Live Performance Audio rather than a standard microphone sync offset field.³ If your Zoom client does not expose a sync control, use the measured value to guide your hardware choice, audio path, or OBS workaround instead of guessing.

In Microsoft Teams, open Settings > Devices to confirm the microphone, camera, sensitivity, noise suppression, voice isolation, high fidelity music mode, and spatial audio options available to you.⁴ The standard Teams device page does not expose a direct A/V sync offset control. For organizations that use Teams real-time telemetry, administrators can inspect Audio / Video Sync as a quality metric, but the standard Teams device settings do not provide a normal user setting for entering a measured millisecond offset.⁴

If neither app exposes a direct offset field, reduce the source of the problem first. A wired USB microphone usually gives you a more stable audio path than a Bluetooth headset, and a direct USB connection can reduce device buffering compared with hubs or extension cables. Connecting the webcam to a USB 3.0 port and the microphone to a separate USB 2.0 port on a different controller minimizes the chance that both streams compete for the same bus bandwidth, which keeps the offset smaller and more consistent throughout a long meeting.

Choosing a workaround when there is no offset field

When Zoom or Teams has no direct offset field, the practical fix is to make the capture path stable before joining. Disable unnecessary webcam processing, close duplicate camera apps, use a wired microphone, and avoid Bluetooth if the headset changes profile during calls. These changes reduce the measured gap and make the app's internal sync work easier to maintain. A stable baseline matters more than any single hardware swap because the meeting app's own pipeline still adds its own buffering on top of whatever you measure here.

Workarounds when app controls are unavailable

When Zoom or Teams does not give you a direct offset control, the most reliable fix is to reduce the measured offset before the meeting starts. Switch from a Bluetooth headset to a wired USB microphone, close webcam utilities that add extra processing, connect the webcam directly to the computer, and use a lower-resolution camera mode if your webcam supports it. An OBS forum moderator noted that USB 3.0, lower webcam resolution, and output format changes can reduce webcam delay, and mentioned a personal webcam delay of about 100 ms at maximum resolution over USB 2.0.⁵

OBS Virtual Camera can help when you need to pre-correct the video path, but treat it as an advanced workaround rather than a one-click fix. OBS documents Virtual Camera as a way to share an OBS Studio scene with applications that use a webcam, such as Zoom, Skype, and Discord, while the meeting app still needs a microphone input unless you also route OBS audio through a virtual audio cable.⁶ OBS Studio issue reports also show that Sync Offset can align recording or streaming output while audio monitoring remains unsynced, which matters when monitored audio is routed into a meeting app.⁷

Using OBS Virtual Camera carefully

If you use OBS Virtual Camera for Zoom, start OBS with your webcam source, apply the measured correction to the OBS path, start Virtual Camera, and select OBS Virtual Camera as the Zoom camera input. Route your microphone audio through the same audio path you will use in the meeting, then verify with a test call before relying on the setup. If the meeting app receives delayed video from OBS but uncorrected audio from your normal microphone, test whether OBS Virtual Camera desyncs Zoom audio before relying on the setup for an important call.

When to use this

Run this test when Zoom or Teams participants report that your audio sounds ahead of or behind your lip movement, when you switch to a new webcam or Bluetooth headset before an important meeting, or when you want to verify sync before using OBS Virtual Camera with a video call app.

Examples