Pixel 11 Pro-series users are reporting a serious problem with video recording, and it’s not the first time we’ve seen it.
The Pixel 11 series’ cloud-based Video Boost quality-enhancement feature does a good job of eking out every last drop of video quality from the camera hardware, but key issues remain unresolved. While Google’s latest flagship has been shown to beat even the iPhone 17 Pro on video quality with Video Boost enabled, it also appears to downgrade captured video in certain situations.
And now, multiple Reddit posts confirm the return of an old Pixel problem where recorded audio appears marred by distortion and “crackling” sounds. Some claim that Video Boost is part of the problem, but users appear to be experiencing the same difficulties with the feature disabled.
You can hear the severe audio corruption in this example Pixel 11 Pro XL video from the Reddit thread in which several other users report similar findings (the crackling starts at around five seconds in).
One user reported, “Hmm, is there any fix? Sucks because the first few videos I took were yesterday on my little girls first birthday and they are completely ruined.” to which another replied “There goes my gender reveal video.”
What Settings Can Cause Audio Corruption In Pixel 11 Pro Video?
The issue is both inconsistent and intermittent and no single setting has yet been isolated as the trigger. Affected users have reported the problem at various combinations of frame rates and resolutions, with HDR on and with HDR off. Others notice the problem to a greater degree when switching lenses, while some claim panning or moving the camera exacerbates the problem. Note that the shot in the example video above is largely stationary, but the camera’s image stabilization is working hard, masking a significant amount of camera shake.
User Nug__Nug reported crackling at 4K 60fps HDR that was “mostly resolved” by switching down to 30fps, but then came back when returning to 60fps, pointing to possible performance-induced failures.
Workarounds Only Get You So Far
I’ve found no public acknowledgement from Google as of publication, but some users have found workarounds that appear to have resolved the issue, temporarily at least. These include:
- Clearing the Camera app’s cache and disabling the audio zoom feature.
- Toggling from 60fps down to 30fps and back again.
- Toggling Battery Saver mode on and off.
- Simply restarting the phone.
Unfortunately, while some of these methods appear anecdotally to provide a temporary fix, none of them are able to prevent the issue from returning.
Pixel Owners Have Raised This Before
Complaints over “digital artifacts and a low fidelity sound” exist from as far back as 2017’s Pixel 2 XL, although this particular case was attributed to noise reduction algorithms in the stock Camera app. Another complaint from 2023 states, “every video I recorded the audio dropped drastically about 10 to 15 seconds into the video. I looked into all the settings turned off audio, zoom [sic] and the problem still persists,” while another from 2022 claims, “yup, this was my same issue with it at concerts. can’t have both 4k and smooth 60 fps, otherwise audio is completely unusable.”
Nobody Is Measuring This Any More
Test lab Dxomark used to publish discrete Smartphone Audio test results, but has published no audio scores since March 2024. The newest Pixel with an audio score is the Pixel 8 / Pixel 8 Pro in October 2023. This is unfortunate as it deprives us of any rigorous third-party testing of Google’s Pixel-series audio output from video recordings.
Google has engaged with the reports, but has not publicly acknowledged any specific fault. An official Google Reddit account responded to complaints, asking users to check their devices are up-to-date with the latest software version and also to refer to this Google support article for audio-related issues (although the linked support article doesn’t refer to recorded video audio). They also direct users to official support channels for help via phone or chat. In another thread, Google’s Pixel Support account messaged the original poster directly in response to their complaint.
One thing I haven’t seen tested for recent Pixel 11 Pro-series issues is using a different camera app to record video. If you’re experiencing audio problems on your device, let me know if switching apps resolves the issue.