diff --git a/packages/core/src/runtime/media.test.ts b/packages/core/src/runtime/media.test.ts
index 9e6071fda7..d9533cfece 100644
--- a/packages/core/src/runtime/media.test.ts
+++ b/packages/core/src/runtime/media.test.ts
@@ -1704,6 +1704,57 @@ describe("syncRuntimeMedia", () => {
     expect(clip.el.currentTime).toBeGreaterThan(1);
   });
 
+  it("pulls a WebKit audio element that sits frozen behind the playhead, well before the 1 s valve", () => {
+    const userAgent = vi
+      .spyOn(navigator, "userAgent", "get")
+      .mockReturnValue(
+        "Mozilla/5.0 AppleWebKit/605.1.15 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/17.4 Safari/605.1.15",
+      );
+    const clip = createMockClip({ start: 0, end: 100, mediaStart: 0 }, "audio");
+    Object.defineProperty(clip.el, "paused", { value: false, writable: true, configurable: true });
+    Object.defineProperty(clip.el, "readyState", { value: 4 });
+    Object.defineProperty(clip.el, "currentTime", { value: 0, writable: true });
+    for (const t of [0, 0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.4, 0.5, 0.6, 0.7]) {
+      syncRuntimeMedia({ clips: [clip], timeSeconds: t, playing: true, playbackRate: 1 });
+    }
+    userAgent.mockRestore();
+    expect(clip.el.currentTime).toBeGreaterThan(0.5);
+  });
+
+  it("leaves a WebKit audio element alone while it is still filling data", () => {
+    const userAgent = vi
+      .spyOn(navigator, "userAgent", "get")
+      .mockReturnValue(
+        "Mozilla/5.0 AppleWebKit/605.1.15 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/17.4 Safari/605.1.15",
+      );
+    const clip = createMockClip({ start: 0, end: 100, mediaStart: 0 }, "audio");
+    Object.defineProperty(clip.el, "paused", { value: false, writable: true, configurable: true });
+    Object.defineProperty(clip.el, "readyState", { value: 2 });
+    Object.defineProperty(clip.el, "currentTime", { value: 0, writable: true });
+    for (const t of [0, 0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.4, 0.5, 0.6, 0.7]) {
+      syncRuntimeMedia({ clips: [clip], timeSeconds: t, playing: true, playbackRate: 1 });
+    }
+    userAgent.mockRestore();
+    expect(clip.el.currentTime).toBe(0);
+  });
+
+  it("leaves a moving WebKit audio element alone at the same lag", () => {
+    const userAgent = vi
+      .spyOn(navigator, "userAgent", "get")
+      .mockReturnValue(
+        "Mozilla/5.0 AppleWebKit/605.1.15 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/17.4 Safari/605.1.15",
+      );
+    const clip = createMockClip({ start: 0, end: 100, mediaStart: 0 }, "audio");
+    Object.defineProperty(clip.el, "paused", { value: false, writable: true, configurable: true });
+    Object.defineProperty(clip.el, "currentTime", { value: 0, writable: true });
+    for (const t of [0, 0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.4, 0.5, 0.6, 0.7]) {
+      (clip.el as { currentTime: number }).currentTime = Math.max(0, t - 0.6);
+      syncRuntimeMedia({ clips: [clip], timeSeconds: t, playing: true, playbackRate: 1 });
+    }
+    userAgent.mockRestore();
+    expect(clip.el.currentTime).toBeLessThan(0.2);
+  });
+
   it("clears offset baseline when clip deactivates — re-entry hard-syncs", () => {
     const clip = createMockClip({ start: 0, end: 5, mediaStart: 0 });
     Object.defineProperty(clip.el, "currentTime", { value: 0, writable: true });
diff --git a/packages/core/src/runtime/media.ts b/packages/core/src/runtime/media.ts
index 44e3286726..165128cdc0 100644
--- a/packages/core/src/runtime/media.ts
+++ b/packages/core/src/runtime/media.ts
@@ -37,6 +37,17 @@ export function readElementPlaybackStart(el: Element): number {
 const HOLD_END_EVENTS = ["seeked", "loadeddata", "error", "emptied", "abort"] as const;
 export const HOLD_CAP_MS = 5000;
 const WEBKIT_STUCK_AUDIO_SECONDS = 1;
+// A playing WebKit audio element that has not moved for this long is frozen, not starting (it starts ~150 ms late).
+const WEBKIT_FROZEN_AUDIO_SECONDS = 0.4;
+const lastMoved = new WeakMap<HTMLMediaElement, { ct: number; at: number }>();
+function frozenAudioFor(el: HTMLMediaElement, ct: number, now: number): number {
+  const m = lastMoved.get(el);
+  if (!m || m.ct !== ct || el.paused || el.seeking || el.readyState < 3) {
+    lastMoved.set(el, { ct, at: now });
+    return 0;
+  }
+  return now - m.at;
+}
 const releaseHeldVideo = new WeakMap<HTMLMediaElement, () => void>();
 
 // A seeking video still paints its previous frame, and one still fetching its first data paints none (its seek
@@ -242,6 +253,7 @@ function clampVolume(volume: number): number {
  * element at a different file without ever leaving its active window.
  */
 export function evictMediaSyncState(el: HTMLMediaElement): void {
+  lastMoved.delete(el);
   lastOffset.delete(el);
   lastRelativeTime.delete(el);
   strictDriftSamples.delete(el);
@@ -650,8 +662,11 @@ export function syncRuntimeMedia(params: {
       lastOffset.set(el, offset);
       const firstTickOfClip = prevOffset === undefined;
       const offsetJumped = !firstTickOfClip && Math.abs(offset - prevOffset!) > 0.5;
+      const webkitAudio = el.tagName === "AUDIO" && isWebKit();
+      const frozenFor = webkitAudio ? frozenAudioFor(el, currentElTime, params.timeSeconds) : 0;
       const catastrophicDrift =
-        drift > (el.tagName === "AUDIO" && isWebKit() ? WEBKIT_STUCK_AUDIO_SECONDS : 3);
+        drift > (webkitAudio ? WEBKIT_STUCK_AUDIO_SECONDS : 3) ||
+        frozenFor >= WEBKIT_FROZEN_AUDIO_SECONDS;
       // A short audio clip can leave its native element paused just before EOF.
       // When the timeline re-enters the clip, rewind stale forward state at the
       // strict threshold; do not force cold audio forward while it buffers.