A method and a terminal for playing an audio file in a multi-terminal cooperative manner include obtaining, by a source terminal, an audio signal frame, the audio signal frame includes a left channel signal and a right channel signal, obtaining, by the source terminal, a central channel signal and a surround channel signal based on the left channel signal and the right channel signal, obtaining, by the source terminal, a current location of a virtual sound source corresponding to the central channel signal, and generating, based on the current location and the central channel signal, a sound channel signal corresponding to the terminal in at least two sound channel signals, superposing, by the source terminal, the sound channel signal on the surround channel signal, to obtain a to-be-played sound channel signal corresponding to the terminal, and playing, by the source terminal, the to-be-played sound channel signal.