Why is ASIO or a similar standard not used as a default sound system on Windows?

Question

It seems to have no shortage of benefits, with low latency, high compatibility, and reasonable stability. What benefit is there for Windows to use alternative protocols by default?

Answer 1

The biggest reason why ASIO is not standard in windows, is simply because it is a hardware protocol. Your soundcard needs to support it for it to work. There is software, such as ASIO4ALL, but that doesn't natively comes with windows.

In addition, using ASIO requires additional licenses.

In windows 8/10, ASIO is replaced by WASAPI, so basically it has been done, but only lately.

ASIO can still be used of course, but WASAPI is OS native. So your statement is actually false.

Answer 2

There's pretty much 'always' been a similar protocol available in windows - kernel streaming on older versions and WASAPI now. There's two reasons for not using them - these protocols bypass the usual mixer so if you're running it in exclusive mode (and you want to run them in exclusive mode) you can't control per application volumes.

Essentially, using the mixer is good enough for most cases and gives you more flexibility. No one ever used kernel streaming in day to day use. WASAPI is neat but in normal usage, most people don't need it.

Simply these solutions offer nothing for most users and if you need a lower latency audio stack, giving up on the more end user friendly features of the usual sound chain, its an option.

Answer 3

ASIO Wikipedia page states:

Being a proprietary protocol, compatibility with Windows-based DAW and other recording software is not universal. For example, the user manual of the Audacity audio editor states: "Licensing restrictions prevent us including ASIO support in released versions of Audacity, but Audacity can be compiled with ASIO support for private, non-distributable use."

So, it is supposed to be supported on Windows, but it is somewhat restricted by licensing factors.