Limit audio playback quality
Verified with Windows 11 25H2 — updated on July 30, 2026
Supported on: At least Windows Server 2008 R2 or Windows 7
Path in the GPO console
Computer Configuration\Administrative Templates\Windows Components\Remote Desktop Services\Remote Desktop Session Host\Device and Resource Redirection Description
This policy setting allows you to limit the audio playback quality for a Remote Desktop Services session. Limiting the quality of audio playback can improve connection performance, particularly over slow links. If you enable this policy setting, you must select one of the following: High, Medium, or Dynamic. If you select High, the audio will be sent without any compression and with minimum latency. This requires a large amount of bandwidth. If you select Medium, the audio will be sent with some compression and with minimum latency as determined by the codec that is being used. If you select Dynamic, the audio will be sent with a level of compression that is determined by the bandwidth of the remote connection. The audio playback quality that you specify on the remote computer by using this policy setting is the maximum quality that can be used for a Remote Desktop Services session, regardless of the audio playback quality configured on the client computer. For example, if the audio playback quality configured on the client computer is higher than the audio playback quality configured on the remote computer, the lower level of audio playback quality will be used. Audio playback quality can be configured on the client computer by using the audioqualitymode setting in a Remote Desktop Protocol (.rdp) file. By default, audio playback quality is set to Dynamic. If you disable or do not configure this policy setting, audio playback quality will be set to Dynamic.
Registry
SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows NT\Terminal Services MDM / Intune (CSP)
./Device/Vendor/MSFT/Policy/Config/ADMX_TerminalServer/TS_CLIENT_AUDIO_QUALITY Microsoft Learn documentation Mapping data: Microsoft Learn (CC BY 4.0)
Export Builder
BETAConfigure the state, scope and options, then generate .reg, PowerShell, Intune and SCCM outputs — or add the setting to a multi-setting collection.
These exports write the registry — this is not a managed GPO. ⓘ
.reg file
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
; Exported from gporais.com
; Policy: Limit audio playback quality
; State: Enabled
; Supported on: At least Windows Server 2008 R2 or Windows 7
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows NT\Terminal Services]
"AllowedAudioQualityMode"=dword:00000001More formats (PowerShell, Intune, SCCM)
PowerShell
# Exported from gporais.com
# Policy: Limit audio playback quality
# State: Enabled
# Supported on: At least Windows Server 2008 R2 or Windows 7
$path = 'HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows NT\Terminal Services'
New-Item -Path $path -Force | Out-Null
Set-ItemProperty -Path $path -Name 'AllowedAudioQualityMode' -Value 1 -Type DWordIntune XML
OMA-URI: ./Device/Vendor/MSFT/Policy/Config/ADMX_TerminalServer/TS_CLIENT_AUDIO_QUALITY
Data type: String
Value:
<enabled/>
<data id="TS_AUDIO_QUALITY_LEVEL" value="1"/>Intune Remediation
# === Detection script ===
# Exported from gporais.com
# Policy: Limit audio playback quality
# State: Enabled
# Supported on: At least Windows Server 2008 R2 or Windows 7
function Test-RegistryValue {
param(
[Parameter(Mandatory = $true)][string]$Path,
[Parameter(Mandatory = $true)][string]$Name,
[object]$Expected,
[ValidateSet('String', 'DWord', 'MultiString')][string]$Kind = 'String',
[switch]$Absent
)
try {
$item = Get-ItemProperty -LiteralPath $Path -Name $Name -ErrorAction Stop
} catch {
return $Absent.IsPresent
}
if ($Absent.IsPresent) { return $false }
$actual = $item.$Name
if ($Kind -eq 'DWord') { return ([int64]$actual) -eq ([int64]$Expected) }
if ($Kind -eq 'MultiString') {
$actualValues = @($actual)
$expectedValues = @($Expected)
if ($actualValues.Count -ne $expectedValues.Count) { return $false }
for ($i = 0; $i -lt $expectedValues.Count; $i++) {
if ([string]$actualValues[$i] -ne [string]$expectedValues[$i]) { return $false }
}
return $true
}
return [string]$actual -eq [string]$Expected
}
$checks = @(
(Test-RegistryValue -Path 'HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows NT\Terminal Services' -Name 'AllowedAudioQualityMode' -Expected 1 -Kind DWord)
)
if ($checks -notcontains $false) {
Write-Output 'Compliant'
exit 0
}
Write-Output 'Non-compliant'
exit 1
# === Remediation script ===
# Exported from gporais.com
# Policy: Limit audio playback quality
# State: Enabled
# Supported on: At least Windows Server 2008 R2 or Windows 7
$path = 'HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows NT\Terminal Services'
New-Item -Path $path -Force | Out-Null
Set-ItemProperty -Path $path -Name 'AllowedAudioQualityMode' -Value 1 -Type DWordSCCM scripts
# Exported from gporais.com
# Policy: Limit audio playback quality
# State: Enabled
# Supported on: At least Windows Server 2008 R2 or Windows 7
# SCCM Configuration Item guidance:
# Create a Configuration Item of type "Setting: Script".
# Discovery script: use the Detection script below.
# Remediation script: use the Remediation script below.
# Compliance rule: the Discovery script output equals 'Compliant'.
# === Detection script ===
# Exported from gporais.com
# Policy: Limit audio playback quality
# State: Enabled
# Supported on: At least Windows Server 2008 R2 or Windows 7
function Test-RegistryValue {
param(
[Parameter(Mandatory = $true)][string]$Path,
[Parameter(Mandatory = $true)][string]$Name,
[object]$Expected,
[ValidateSet('String', 'DWord', 'MultiString')][string]$Kind = 'String',
[switch]$Absent
)
try {
$item = Get-ItemProperty -LiteralPath $Path -Name $Name -ErrorAction Stop
} catch {
return $Absent.IsPresent
}
if ($Absent.IsPresent) { return $false }
$actual = $item.$Name
if ($Kind -eq 'DWord') { return ([int64]$actual) -eq ([int64]$Expected) }
if ($Kind -eq 'MultiString') {
$actualValues = @($actual)
$expectedValues = @($Expected)
if ($actualValues.Count -ne $expectedValues.Count) { return $false }
for ($i = 0; $i -lt $expectedValues.Count; $i++) {
if ([string]$actualValues[$i] -ne [string]$expectedValues[$i]) { return $false }
}
return $true
}
return [string]$actual -eq [string]$Expected
}
$checks = @(
(Test-RegistryValue -Path 'HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows NT\Terminal Services' -Name 'AllowedAudioQualityMode' -Expected 1 -Kind DWord)
)
if ($checks -notcontains $false) {
Write-Output 'Compliant'
exit 0
}
Write-Output 'Non-compliant'
exit 1
# === Remediation script ===
# Exported from gporais.com
# Policy: Limit audio playback quality
# State: Enabled
# Supported on: At least Windows Server 2008 R2 or Windows 7
$path = 'HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows NT\Terminal Services'
New-Item -Path $path -Force | Out-Null
Set-ItemProperty -Path $path -Name 'AllowedAudioQualityMode' -Value 1 -Type DWordBuilding a multi-setting collection? Add this setting and generate combined .reg / PowerShell / GPO scripts.