diff --git a/library/core/src/main/java/com/google/android/exoplayer2/audio/DefaultAudioSink.java b/library/core/src/main/java/com/google/android/exoplayer2/audio/DefaultAudioSink.java
index c702bc6dd6d..b7fc65ecd81 100644
--- a/library/core/src/main/java/com/google/android/exoplayer2/audio/DefaultAudioSink.java
+++ b/library/core/src/main/java/com/google/android/exoplayer2/audio/DefaultAudioSink.java
@@ -33,6 +33,7 @@
 import android.os.SystemClock;
 import android.util.Pair;
 import androidx.annotation.DoNotInline;
+import androidx.annotation.GuardedBy;
 import androidx.annotation.IntDef;
 import androidx.annotation.Nullable;
 import androidx.annotation.RequiresApi;
@@ -58,6 +59,7 @@
 import java.util.ArrayDeque;
 import java.util.ArrayList;
 import java.util.Collections;
+import java.util.concurrent.ExecutorService;
 import org.checkerframework.checker.nullness.qual.MonotonicNonNull;
 import org.checkerframework.checker.nullness.qual.RequiresNonNull;
 
@@ -463,6 +465,15 @@ public DefaultAudioSink build() {
    */
   public static boolean failOnSpuriousAudioTimestamp = false;
 
+  private static final Object releaseExecutorLock = new Object();
+
+  @GuardedBy("releaseExecutorLock")
+  @Nullable
+  private static ExecutorService releaseExecutor;
+
+  @GuardedBy("releaseExecutorLock")
+  private static int pendingReleaseCount;
+
   private final AudioCapabilities audioCapabilities;
   private final AudioProcessorChain audioProcessorChain;
   private final boolean enableFloatOutput;
@@ -1415,9 +1426,6 @@ public void flush() {
       if (isOffloadedPlayback(audioTrack)) {
         checkNotNull(offloadStreamEventCallbackV29).unregister(audioTrack);
       }
-      // AudioTrack.release can take some time, so we call it on a background thread.
-      final AudioTrack toRelease = audioTrack;
-      audioTrack = null;
       if (Util.SDK_INT < 21 && !externalAudioSessionIdProvided) {
         // Prior to API level 21, audio sessions are not kept alive once there are no components
         // associated with them. If we generated the session ID internally, the only component
@@ -1431,18 +1439,8 @@ public void flush() {
         pendingConfiguration = null;
       }
       audioTrackPositionTracker.reset();
-      releasingConditionVariable.close();
-      new Thread("ExoPlayer:AudioTrackReleaseThread") {
-        @Override
-        public void run() {
-          try {
-            toRelease.flush();
-            toRelease.release();
-          } finally {
-            releasingConditionVariable.open();
-          }
-        }
-      }.start();
+      releaseAudioTrackAsync(audioTrack, releasingConditionVariable);
+      audioTrack = null;
     }
     writeExceptionPendingExceptionHolder.clear();
     initializationExceptionPendingExceptionHolder.clear();
@@ -1853,6 +1851,36 @@ private void playPendingData() {
     }
   }
 
+  private static void releaseAudioTrackAsync(
+      AudioTrack audioTrack, ConditionVariable releasedConditionVariable) {
+    // AudioTrack.release can take some time, so we call it on a background thread. The background
+    // thread is shared statically to avoid creating many threads when multiple players are released
+    // at the same time.
+    releasedConditionVariable.close();
+    synchronized (releaseExecutorLock) {
+      if (releaseExecutor == null) {
+        releaseExecutor = Util.newSingleThreadExecutor("ExoPlayer:AudioTrackReleaseThread");
+      }
+      pendingReleaseCount++;
+      releaseExecutor.execute(
+          () -> {
+            try {
+              audioTrack.flush();
+              audioTrack.release();
+            } finally {
+              releasedConditionVariable.open();
+              synchronized (releaseExecutorLock) {
+                pendingReleaseCount--;
+                if (pendingReleaseCount == 0) {
+                  releaseExecutor.shutdown();
+                  releaseExecutor = null;
+                }
+              }
+            }
+          });
+    }
+  }
+
   @RequiresApi(29)
   private final class StreamEventCallbackV29 {
     private final Handler handler;