Chromium does not pick default pulseaudio sink

[Raul Dias]

When changing the default sink (builtin audio) to USB audio (PCM2902) headphone, all desktop uses the new default sink.
All but Chromium (and Chrome).
For both Chromium (and Chrome), I have to change the output device in the application tab (PA). As soon as the audio pauses in Chrome/Chromium, it will resume in the builtin output audio device sink. This happens on a per tab basis (probably different process).

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 18.04
Package: chromium-browser 69.0.3497.81-0ubuntu0.18.04.1
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 4.15.0-34.37-generic 4.15.18
Uname: Linux 4.15.0-34-generic x86_64
NonfreeKernelModules: nvidia_modeset nvidia
ApportVersion: 2.20.9-0ubuntu7.3
Architecture: amd64
CurrentDesktop: KDE
Date: Wed Sep 19 11:54:57 2018
Desktop-Session:
 'plasma'
 '/etc/xdg/xdg-plasma:/etc/xdg:/usr/share/kubuntu-default-settings/kf5-settings'
 '/usr/share/plasma:/home/raul/.local/share/flatpak/exports/share:/var/lib/flatpak/exports/share:/usr/local/share:/usr/share:/var/lib/snapd/desktop:/var/lib/snapd/desktop'
DetectedPlugins:

Env:
 'None'
 'None'
InstallationDate: Installed on 2014-05-12 (1591 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Error: [Errno 13] Permission denied: '/var/log/installer/media-info'
Load-Avg-1min: 1.06
Load-Processes-Running-Percent: 0.1%
MachineType: Notebook P870KM_KM1
ProcKernelCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/@/boot/vmlinuz-4.15.0-34-generic root=UUID=ba6a2d10-738f-42dc-9b8a-e68c8cc5d368 ro rootflags=subvol=@
SourcePackage: chromium-browser
UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to bionic on 2018-04-27 (145 days ago)
dmi.bios.date: 02/22/2017
dmi.bios.vendor: American Megatrends Inc.
dmi.bios.version: 5.12
dmi.board.asset.tag: Tag 12345
dmi.board.name: P870KM_KM1
dmi.board.vendor: Notebook
dmi.board.version: Not Applicable
dmi.chassis.asset.tag: No Asset Tag
dmi.chassis.type: 10
dmi.chassis.vendor: No Enclosure
dmi.chassis.version: N/A
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnAmericanMegatrendsInc.:bvr5.12:bd02/22/2017:svnNotebook:pnP870KM_KM1:pvrNotApplicable:rvnNotebook:rnP870KM_KM1:rvrNotApplicable:cvnNoEnclosure:ct10:cvrN/A:
dmi.product.family: Not Applicable
dmi.product.name: P870KM_KM1
dmi.product.version: Not Applicable
dmi.sys.vendor: Notebook
etcconfigcpepperflashpluginnonfree:
 flashso="/usr/lib/pepperflashplugin-nonfree/libpepflashplayer.so"
 flashversion=`strings $flashso 2> /dev/null | grep LNX | cut -d ' ' -f 2 | sed -e "s/,/./g"`
 CHROMIUM_FLAGS="$CHROMIUM_FLAGS --ppapi-flash-path=$flashso --ppapi-flash-version=$flashversion"
modified.conffile..etc.default.chromium-browser: [deleted]

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.

[dronus (paul-geisler)]

Even worse, using Ubuntu 18.04, there is no option to change the sink per application in the audio control panel anymore.

[Nicolas Göddel (ngoeddel)]

I've got the same bug on Ubuntu 20.04 with Chromium 86.0.4240.183 when using Teams. Every time I call someone or someone calls me it switches source and sink to my internal laptop microphone and speakers. Then I have to go to the sound settings where it still shows my headphones as source and sink, and I need to switch to internal sink/source and back to headphones to make it work. It's really annoying.
Why is chromium even allowed to change my pulseaudio settings?

[Olivier Tilloy (osomon)]

I wonder whether this might be an upstream bug. Would you be able to test with chrome (get it from https://www.google.com/chrome/) and see if it's similarly affected? If it is, could you please file a bug at https://bugs.chromium.org/p/chromium/issues/list and share the link to it here?

Thanks!

[Nicolas Göddel (ngoeddel)]

I just tested it with this version of Chrome on Ubuntu 20.04.1 LTS

Version 88.0.4324.41 (Offizieller Build) beta (64-Bit)

Normal soundouput like videos and phone rings (MS Teams) use my selected sink, in my case the headphones.
But as soon as I want to use the microphone it uses my internal speakers and microphone of the laptop instead of my USB headset which still is selected in the pulseaudio settings. I have to switch back and forth to finally be able to use my headset within the browser. And that procedure is needed for every call I make. Really annoying.