![[StreamWorks Player]](../img/player.gif)
When you play a stream that contains audio data, the StreamWorks Player plays the audio through your computer's Sound System and provides controls for muting audio playback and adjusting audio playback volume.
Muting Audio Playback (Windows and X-Windows)
To toggle the Mute setting, click the Audio button.
Adjusting Audio Playback Volume (Macintosh)
To adjust the audio playback volume, click the Audio button, and select the volume level.
Controlling Audio Quality
To control audio playback quality, use the following items in the Settings menu:
Playback -> Mono - Forces Monaural Audio Playback.
Playback -> Stereo - Enables Stereo Audio Playback.
Playback -> Optimize Audio - Causes the StreamWorks Player to optimize audio quality.
Playback -> Mixed - Causes the StreamWorks Player to balance resource allocation between audio and video playback.
Playback -> Optimize Video - Causes the StreamWorks Player to reduce audio quality, so processing time can be allocated to video playback.
The characteristics of the audio data generated by the StreamWorks Player can affect your computer's overall playback performance; e.g., stereo audio contains twice as much data as monaural audio. Depending on the nature of your computer's sound system, the overhead processing associated with transferring this additional data to your computer's sound board may adversely affect overall playback performance.