Microsoft Teams public preview adds high fidelity music mode for meetings

Rabia Noureen

Teams

Back in July, Microsoft unveiled a new high-fidelity Music Mode that should help improve the quality of music streamed during Teams calls and meetings. This feature is finally rolling out in the public preview version of Microsoft Teams.

Microsoft says this release enables users to automatically optimize audio settings in a Teams meeting and call so that listeners receive a richer sound experience. “In music mode, we support up to 32 kHz sampling rate mono audio at 128 kbps, and optimize our internal audio processing settings for reproducing music with high fidelity. Teams will automatically adjust the audio bitrate based on the available bandwidth, going down to 48 kbps while still delivering good music quality,” the Microsoft 365 roadmap reads.

To enable this feature, head over to Settings >> Devices and turn on the “High fidelity music mode” option. Users can choose to turn off echo cancellation when using the music mode if needed. Once enabled, click the music mode icon available at the top of the meeting window to transmit high-quality music to an online audience.

The new high fidelity music mode should be helpful for conducting online music lessons, live musical performances, or streaming other non-speech content. However, Microsoft recommends users to disable this feature during regular calls and meetings to conserve bandwidth and reduce background noise.