diff --git a/RELEASENOTES.md b/RELEASENOTES.md
index 35366bcb04..09325057e2 100644
--- a/RELEASENOTES.md
+++ b/RELEASENOTES.md
@@ -5,11 +5,14 @@
 *   ExoPlayer:
     *   Fix issue where `PreloadMediaPeriod` cannot retain the streams when it
         is preloaded again.
-*   Effect:
-    *   Improved PQ to SDR tone-mapping by converting color spaces.
 *   Transformer:
     *   Add workaround for exception thrown due to `MediaMuxer` not supporting
         negative presentation timestamps before API 30.
+*   Audio:
+    *   Allow renderer recovery by disabling offload if audio track fails to
+        initialize in offload mode.
+*   Effect:
+    *   Improved PQ to SDR tone-mapping by converting color spaces.
 *   UI:
     *   Fallback to include audio track language name if `Locale` cannot
         identify a display name
diff --git a/libraries/common/src/main/java/androidx/media3/common/PlaybackException.java b/libraries/common/src/main/java/androidx/media3/common/PlaybackException.java
index 8ebf665d39..5cdd8082f7 100644
--- a/libraries/common/src/main/java/androidx/media3/common/PlaybackException.java
+++ b/libraries/common/src/main/java/androidx/media3/common/PlaybackException.java
@@ -224,6 +224,9 @@ public class PlaybackException extends Exception implements Bundleable {
   /** Caused by an AudioTrack write operation failure in offload mode. */
   @UnstableApi public static final int ERROR_CODE_AUDIO_TRACK_OFFLOAD_WRITE_FAILED = 5003;
 
+  /** Caused by an AudioTrack write operation failure in offload mode. */
+  @UnstableApi public static final int ERROR_CODE_AUDIO_TRACK_OFFLOAD_INIT_FAILED = 5004;
+
   // DRM errors (6xxx).
 
   /** Caused by an unspecified error related to DRM protection. */
@@ -330,6 +333,8 @@ public class PlaybackException extends Exception implements Bundleable {
         return "ERROR_CODE_AUDIO_TRACK_WRITE_FAILED";
       case ERROR_CODE_AUDIO_TRACK_OFFLOAD_WRITE_FAILED:
         return "ERROR_CODE_AUDIO_TRACK_OFFLOAD_WRITE_FAILED";
+      case ERROR_CODE_AUDIO_TRACK_OFFLOAD_INIT_FAILED:
+        return "ERROR_CODE_AUDIO_TRACK_OFFLOAD_INIT_FAILED";
       case ERROR_CODE_DRM_UNSPECIFIED:
         return "ERROR_CODE_DRM_UNSPECIFIED";
       case ERROR_CODE_DRM_SCHEME_UNSUPPORTED:
diff --git a/libraries/exoplayer/src/main/java/androidx/media3/exoplayer/ExoPlayerImplInternal.java b/libraries/exoplayer/src/main/java/androidx/media3/exoplayer/ExoPlayerImplInternal.java
index 6d472853a8..f010a96606 100644
--- a/libraries/exoplayer/src/main/java/androidx/media3/exoplayer/ExoPlayerImplInternal.java
+++ b/libraries/exoplayer/src/main/java/androidx/media3/exoplayer/ExoPlayerImplInternal.java
@@ -622,6 +622,7 @@ import java.util.concurrent.atomic.AtomicBoolean;
       }
       if (e.isRecoverable
           && (pendingRecoverableRendererError == null
+              || e.errorCode == PlaybackException.ERROR_CODE_AUDIO_TRACK_OFFLOAD_INIT_FAILED
               || e.errorCode == PlaybackException.ERROR_CODE_AUDIO_TRACK_OFFLOAD_WRITE_FAILED)) {
         // If pendingRecoverableRendererError != null and error was
         // ERROR_CODE_AUDIO_TRACK_OFFLOAD_WRITE_FAILED then upon retry, renderer will attempt with
diff --git a/libraries/exoplayer/src/main/java/androidx/media3/exoplayer/audio/MediaCodecAudioRenderer.java b/libraries/exoplayer/src/main/java/androidx/media3/exoplayer/audio/MediaCodecAudioRenderer.java
index 4a861e45e5..0c0765ea49 100644
--- a/libraries/exoplayer/src/main/java/androidx/media3/exoplayer/audio/MediaCodecAudioRenderer.java
+++ b/libraries/exoplayer/src/main/java/androidx/media3/exoplayer/audio/MediaCodecAudioRenderer.java
@@ -743,7 +743,13 @@ public class MediaCodecAudioRenderer extends MediaCodecRenderer implements Media
       fullyConsumed = audioSink.handleBuffer(buffer, bufferPresentationTimeUs, sampleCount);
     } catch (InitializationException e) {
       throw createRendererException(
-          e, inputFormat, e.isRecoverable, PlaybackException.ERROR_CODE_AUDIO_TRACK_INIT_FAILED);
+          e,
+          inputFormat,
+          e.isRecoverable,
+          isBypassEnabled()
+                  && getConfiguration().offloadModePreferred != AudioSink.OFFLOAD_MODE_DISABLED
+              ? PlaybackException.ERROR_CODE_AUDIO_TRACK_OFFLOAD_INIT_FAILED
+              : PlaybackException.ERROR_CODE_AUDIO_TRACK_INIT_FAILED);
     } catch (WriteException e) {
       throw createRendererException(
           e,