Virtual Cables
Comment: In accordance with Wikipedia's Conflict of interest guideline, I disclose that I have a conflict of interest regarding the subject of this article. ~2026-44301-28 (talk) 16:49, 12 August 2026 (UTC)
| Developer(s) | Tarek Wasfy |
|---|---|
| Engine | |
| Operating system | Windows 10, Windows 11 |
| Platform | x86-64 |
| Type | Audio routing software |
| License | BSD 2-Clause |
| Website | virtual-cables |
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Virtual Cables is a virtual audio routing application for Microsoft Windows. It creates virtual playback and recording devices that can be used to transfer digital audio between applications.
Unlike conventional virtual audio cable software that implements a dedicated virtual audio kernel driver, Virtual Cables presents its audio endpoints to Windows as virtual USB Audio Class devices transported through USB/IP. Windows subsequently handles the devices using its built-in USB audio driver.[1]
The software is distributed through the Microsoft Store and is also available from the project's website and GitHub repository.[2]
Operation
Virtual Cables implements virtual USB Audio Class 1.0 devices. Each cable is presented to Windows as a pair of connected audio endpoints: a playback endpoint and a recording endpoint.[1]
Audio written to the playback endpoint is transferred through an internal audio buffer and made available through the corresponding recording endpoint. Applications can therefore use a cable in a similar way to a physical connection between the output of one audio device and the input of another.
For example, an application can select Virtual Cable 01 as its playback device while another application selects the corresponding Virtual Cable 01 recording device. Audio produced by the first application can then be captured by the second.
Architecture
Instead of providing its own Windows audio driver, Virtual Cables emulates standards-based USB audio hardware. A local USB/IP server exports the virtual devices and the USB/IP transport makes them available to Windows.[1]
The Windows implementation uses the open-source usbip-win2 project for USB/IP transport.[3]
After the virtual USB device has been attached, Windows recognizes it as a standard USB audio device and loads its built-in USB Audio Class driver. Consequently, the audio portion of the device does not require a proprietary audio kernel driver, although a USB/IP transport driver is required.[1][3]
Features
Virtual Cables supports up to 32 independent virtual audio cables.[1] Each cable provides one playback and one recording endpoint and uses an independent audio buffer.
The software provides a graphical Windows interface through which cables can be added or removed. Once created, the endpoints appear in the Windows sound device list and can be selected by applications that use standard Windows audio interfaces.
The current implementation uses the following audio format:[1]
- 48,000 Hz sample rate
- 16-bit PCM
- two-channel stereo audio
- USB Audio Class 1.0
Comparison with conventional virtual audio cables
Traditional virtual audio cable software commonly creates virtual sound devices using a dedicated audio device driver. Examples include Virtual Audio Cable and VB-Audio's VB-CABLE.
Virtual Cables instead emulates USB Audio Class hardware and allows Windows to use its standard USB audio driver for the resulting playback and recording endpoints.[1] The virtual USB connection itself is supplied through USB/IP.
This architecture separates the virtual audio device implementation from the USB transport layer. The user-space application handles the emulated USB Audio Class device, while the USB/IP transport driver presents that device to the Windows USB subsystem.
Applications
Virtual audio cables can be used for routing audio between applications without a physical audio connection. Typical applications include:
- transferring audio between recording and playback applications;
- routing application audio to streaming or broadcasting software;
- connecting software instruments and audio-processing applications;
- capturing the audio output of another application;
- separating multiple software audio paths by using different virtual cables.
System requirements
The software is designed for 64-bit versions of Windows 10 and Windows 11.[1] Administrative privileges may be required when configuring or installing the USB/IP transport driver.
The associated usbip-win2 project supports Windows 10 x64 from version 1903 onward and Windows 11.[3]
Development
The source code for Virtual Cables is publicly available on GitHub.[1] The repository is distributed under the BSD 2-Clause License.
The project describes itself as experimental and notes that stability can depend on the Windows installation, system load, USB/IP transport and the number of simultaneously active virtual audio devices.[1]
See also
- Virtual Audio Cable
- Loopback
References
External links
- Official website
- Virtual Cables on GitHub
- Releases on GitHub
- Virtual Cables on the Microsoft Store
- usbip-win2 on GitHub
Category:Audio routing Category:Windows audio software Category:Free and open-source software Category:Software using the BSD license
References
This article "Virtual Cables" is from Wikipedia. The list of its authors can be seen in its historical and/or the page Edithistory:Virtual Cables. Articles copied from Draft Namespace on Wikipedia could be seen on the Draft Namespace of Wikipedia and not main one.
