# acidanthera/AppleALC

Native macOS HD audio for not officially supported codecs

Repository: https://github.com/acidanthera/AppleALC
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/applealc
Language: C++
License: BSD-3-Clause
License Family: permissive
Topics: applealc
Last push: 2026-03-20T15:05:27+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 71/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-03T02:20:16.233290+00:00)
- activity 73, release rhythm 51, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 3831, "days_push": 166, "days_rel": 166, "gap_med": 119, "n_releases_24m": 6}
- flags: none
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 3574, forks 1053 (observed 2026-08-28T04:08:10.763270+00:00)

## What it is
AppleALC is an open-source macOS kernel extension (kext) that enables native HD audio for codecs not officially supported by Apple, without filesystem modifications. It dynamically patches AppleHDA at runtime, supporting codec detection, layout injection, and arbitrary kext patching.

## Use cases
- enable onboard audio on a hackintosh
- get analog audio working on unsupported codecs in macOS
- fix audio in macOS recovery and installer
- inject custom audio layout IDs on hackintosh
- enable unsupported audio controllers in macOS
- digital-only audio setup with AppleALCU

## When to choose
- you are building a hackintosh and need native audio without modifying system files
- your audio codec is unsupported by AppleHDA and you want automatic codec detection
- you need audio working from macOS installation and Recovery HD

## When to avoid
- you are on a real Mac with supported audio hardware
- you are on macOS 26+ where AppleHDA.kext was dropped and extra steps are required
- you need USB or HDMI audio handled outside AppleHDA patching

## Facets
- artifact type: plugin
- maturity: active
- function: audio-processing, security, plugin-system
- domain: operating-systems, hardware, developer-tools
- platform: cpp
- tags: hackintosh, kext, kernel-extension, applehda, audio-codecs, acidanthera, audio, macos

## Member repositories
- acidanthera/AppleALC (main) score 71

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:08:10.763270+00:00.
- Health v2: computed from the inputs above; adoption is never an input.
- Inferred fields (summary, facets, guidance): AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, on 2026-08-29T18:34:03.749072+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/acidanthera/AppleALC (fetched 2026-08-28T04:08:10.763270+00:00, sha bcdb985d11a5)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.