I recently had a problem when playing movies through iTunes on a laptop. At various parts of the movie, the entire laptop would become extremely slow, causing the movie to sputter. This happened at infrequent intervals. The laptop has a dual core 1.6Ghz and 2GB of RAM, so I new it was more than capable of playing a movie.
To look into the problem, I had the performance monitor running while I played a movie. Once the movie began to slow and sputter, I viewed the performance monitor to see which process was causing the problem. When I viewed the performance monitor I noticed that a process called audiodg.exe was consuming 35-40% of the CPU. I then investigated the problem and found a probable fix to the issue.
What is Audiodg.exe?
The audiodg.exe file made its appearance in Microsoft Vista, which explains why I haven’t seen this file before. When I viewed the properties of the file, the description stated Windows Audio Device Graph Isolation, which doesn’t help explain what it does.
After doing a little research I found out that the audiodg.exe file hosts the audio engine for Vista, and from what I hear Windows 7 as well. All the DSP and audio processing is performed within this file. Vendors are able to install their own DSP and audio effects into the audio pipeline, which will then be processed by audiodg.exe.
Unfortunately, this can also lead to some problems, as I experienced. Some audio effects can consume CPU and memory if not properly coded. How do we fix the problem? Lets take a look.
Disabling Audio Effects
In order to fix the high CPU usage, I disabled the audio enhancements processed by the audiodg.exe file. To disable the audio enhancements, use the following steps:
- Right-click the speaker icon in the lower right corner.
- Select Playback Devices from the menu. A list of devices should appear on the screen.
- Double-click the device that has a green checkmark. The properties windows for that device should open.
- Click the Enhancements tab at the top.
- From the list of enhancements, uncheck all of them, or click the Disable all enhancements checkbox.
- Click the OK button to save your changes and close the window.
- Click OK to close the Playback Devices window.
Once I disabled the enhancements, the movie played without any issues. I also didn’t notice any difference in sound with the enhancements disabled. If I do want to use sound enhancements, I’ll stick to the the options provided in the application.
hi guys, thanks a lot for the tips above. very helpful.
Yes it solve the problem by disabling all audiu effects including equalizer’s.
, thing i prefer cpu usage and better sound quality 
So my 2000 euro notebook has no bass boost
P.S. I don’t expirience the lag in movies only CPU usage is 25-30% but if I only wach movie it’s not a problem.
P.P.S. sory for my english
I usually increase the bass using the soundcard’s equalizer instead of using audiodg.exe, or if my speakers support it, increasing the bass on my speakers.
Hey man thanks for this!
It also turns out my headset works better in the black slot then the green.
I now have little to none splutters and the lag has gone!
I think..
audiodg.exe was driving me crazy… I didn’t understand why it kept taking 20-40% of CPU. well disabling enhancements fixed everything. I only had the volume boost on but it is very rare when i need it.
FYI. I was playing WMP inside Internet Explorer 8 and after 10-15 minutes of streaming it would “stutter” and wouldn’t stop until I turned off the wireless.
Excellent tip! Now I can get work done on my netbook while listening to music simultaneously, instead of one or the other. What’s even funnier… the music actually sounds BETTER to me without the enhancements. W7 can take audiodg.exe and shove it!
ok guys,
i half take back my previous comment… after reading this article and “fixing” the overloading of audiodg.exe, it kept bothering that I had to turn off the enhancements… after doing lots of research it turned out…. :::drum roll:::
it is the drivers…
the default Win7/Vista drivers for my realtek integrated audio were the caused of the audiodg CPU high load. I went to Realtek, downloaded the latest drivers, installed and now all my enhancements play happy with my computer.
This might not fix your problem but it did mine.
I’m having the same problem, but i have a creative x-fi fatality sound card. disabling the enhancements does not do anything. I’ve tried to reinstall drivers an such, but it doesnt help. please help?
TTTHHHAANNKKSSS AA LOOOT really, really A LOT.. i was ready to hit a new cpu cuz i instaled some new games and programs and i was thinkg that was the cause of the slow behaivor of my pc, now its normal the diferences its a reduce of 30 % of the volume of all aplication on mi pc but thats dosnt care because i have outside power audio enhancement. THANKS AGAIN and excuse my english.
Also want to express my kudos to you for saving me from this frustrating experience!
I was now ready to stop ALL my work, and dig in to the system UNTIL I would find the solution to this problem. So I started w google and came to this your information… saved me a LOT of time.
For reference: Acer Aspire Timeline 4810TZ, Realtek Chipset, Win7. Audiodg had around 18-22% utilization.
Now turned off “Dolby headset” feature (as enhancement) resulting in 6-8%.
Turing of all enhancements puts me at 4-5%.