Total sound instance limit

My research is a test benchmark for the total sound instances that can be synchronized in Roblox. These are the results. This may be useful or useless to someone, but just know that it’s only research

  • 1 - 400: Normal operation expected.
  • 401 - 450: Screen switching causes slight audio-video desync.
  • 451 - 500: Audio audible for ~5-7 seconds, but not synced.
  • 501 - 1000: Audio cuts out after 2-4 seconds.
  • 1001 - 2000: Audio cuts out after 2-3 seconds.
  • 2001 - 20000: Audio cuts out after 2 seconds.
  • 20001 - 40000: Audio cuts out after 1 second + desync.
  • 40001 - 100000: Audio cuts out after 1 second + desync.
  • 100001 - 300000: Audio cuts out after 1 second + desync.
  • 300001 - 500000: Audio cuts out after 1 second + computer freezes.
  • 500001 - ∞: No audio + computer freezes.

Note: Results may vary depending on the device.

Tested in
CPU: 12th Gen Intel(R) Core™ i5-12500H
Memory: 16GB

Thank you

  • Tsukinatsune
16 Likes

Does this mean Roblox sound instances are not that optimized? Is it worth benchmarking AudioPlayers/Emitters?

I mean who really has more than 400 sounds in their game at once.

Does this mean Roblox sound instances are not that optimized?

  • Of course, if they can because compared to other game engines or software, they can play more than 400 sound instances at the same time

Is it worth benchmarking AudioPlayers/Emitters?

  • It’s worth it because I have a project that requires synchronized sound instances, which is why this benchmark was started

This is valuable information, thank you

1 Like

As the squirrel said its cool information, I’m sure no one has 400 audios playing at once though!

Maybe a max of like 50?

What happens if you have 500000 audios playing at once but half of them only one player can hear and the rest another player? Does it act like 250000? or does it act like the normal 500000? Would be a cool test to do!

It really depends on the game. Im working on a shooter game, and the amount of sounds easily reaches the hundreds in fuller servers. Think of bullet impacts, footstep, gunshots, weapon foley, environment sounds like fires, wind, ambience, etc. It adds up surprisingly quick unless youre being careful with sound usage. In the case of my game, which I dont want to be careful with the amount of sounds, I added distance culling (dont play sounds user wont hear) and a heat & queue system (if too many sounds of low importance are playing at once, sounds may delay or be forgotten). I highly recommend these kind of optimizations for larger games because sounds take up more performance room than youd think, and from experience, do have weird effects in large counts which this post gives some helpful details on

2 Likes