Emerging Tech
Android 11 makes it easy to check what audio codecs your Bluetooth headphones support
It’s usually difficult to figure out what kinds of audio codecs your favorite Bluetooth headphones/speakers support, at least on Android. The main method involves copying logs from your phone to a PC, then running them through an application like Wireshark. Thankfully, Google has made the process significantly easier on Android 11.
Android already had a Bluetooth audio codec selection screen in the Developer settings, but all the options are always available, so it didn’t give you any information about which codecs would actually work. When you connect a Bluetooth audio device in Android 11, the menu now disables all the options that aren’t supported, giving you a clear idea of which codecs work.
Left: Android 10; Right: Android 11
In the above screenshot, you can see my AirPods only support SBC and AAC. While there’s usually not a need for most people to check audio codec support on Bluetooth audio products, it does make debugging potential issues easier — headphones don’t always automatically use the best codec.
