Can ESP32 stream audio over Wi-Fi or Bluetooth?

Question

I’m working on a project where I need to send audio from an ESP32, and I’m trying to figure out if it’s possible to stream audio over Wi-Fi or Bluetooth. If anyone has tried this, which libraries or methods did you use?

I’m also curious about how well it works in practice in terms of audio quality and latency, and whether certain ESP32 variants perform better for this.

Neil_Overtorn · Answer

Yes, it’s possible to stream audio from an ESP32 over both Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, but the method depends on what you need. For Wi-Fi, many developers use the ESP-ADF (Espressif Audio Development Framework), which supports protocols like HTTP, WebSocket, or RTP for audio streaming.

Some lighter approaches involve ESPAsyncWebServer to stream raw or encoded data such as MP3. For Bluetooth, the ESP32-A2DP library works well for sending audio to headphones or speakers using the A2DP profile.

In terms of performance, the ESP32-S3 and ESP32-A1S (with an external audio codec) are better suited than the standard ESP32 since they handle audio tasks more efficiently and have stronger support in ESP-ADF.

Wi-Fi generally provides higher bandwidth and better quality but can introduce noticeable latency, while Bluetooth offers simpler real-time streaming at the cost of codec limitations and range.

Overall, the ESP32 is capable of decent audio streaming for IoT or hobby projects, though it won’t match dedicated audio hardware for high-fidelity or ultra-low-latency applications.