February 24, 2023

How to Fix Video Lag in VLC Media Player on Windows

Reading Time: 4 minutes

If your videos on VLC are getting choppy, here’s how to fix it on Windows.

VLC is a popular media player app among Windows users, owing to its versatility, ease of use, and support for a wide range of file formats. However, like most apps, VLC can sometimes disappoint you with strange issues. One example is when it fails to play your videos smoothly and constantly lags.

Fortunately, there’s no need to settle for a subpar experience as it is possible to fix this annoying issue. Here we show you seven easy ways for fixing video lag in the VLC media player for Windows.

1. Check the File Format

Although VLC media player supports nearly every popular video format available, it does not support them all. If the video you’re attempting to play is in an unsupported format, you may experience lag.

You can visit VLC’s official webpage to check all the file formats it supports. If your video is in an unsupported format, you’ll have to convert it first. If you need help with that, check our guide on how to convert videos for free.

2. Disable Hardware Acceleration

The hardware acceleration feature in VLC uses your GPU to accelerate the decoding process and achieve a smoother video playback. Nevertheless, there are instances when this feature malfunctions, causing videos to stutter in the VLC media player.

You can try disabling the hardware acceleration feature in VLC and see if that improves the situation. To do so, use the following steps:

1. Open VLC media player.
2. Click on Tools and select Preferences from the resulting menu.
3. Select the Input / Codes tab at the top.
4. Use the drop-down menu next to Hardware-accelerated decoding to select Disable.
5. Click on Save.

Restart the VLC app after this and see if the video plays smoothly.

3. Change Power Plan to High Performance

Enabling a strict power profile on your Windows computer can cause apps to run slowly. As a result, videos in the VLC media player may lag or stutter. To avoid such performance issues, you can change your computer’s power plan to High Performance mode and see if that helps. Here are the steps for the same.

1. Press Win + R to open the Run dialog box.
2. Type control in the Open field and press Enter. This will open the Control Panel window.
3. Click the drop-down menu in the top right corner to change the view type to Small icons or Large icons.
4. Click on Power Options to open that applet.
5. Select High performance.

Can’t find the High Performance power plan in Power Options? Check our guide on how to restore a missing High Performance power plan in Windows and follow the steps outlined there.

4. Disable In-Loop Deblocking Filter

Another thing you can do to fix video lag in VLC is to disable the loop filter for H.264 decoding. Here’s how to do it.

1. In the VLC app, click the Tools menu at the top and select Preferences. Alternatively, you can press Ctrl + P to quickly open the VLC Preferences window.
2. Switch to the Input / Codes tab.
3. Click the drop-down menu next to Skip H.264 in-loop deblocking filter and select All.

5. Change the Caching Value

When you use VLC to stream a video from the web, it caches some of the content for faster playback. If you’re experiencing video lag while streaming, you can try increasing the network and file cache sizes to fix the issue.

To increase the network and file caching values in VLC, use these steps:

1. Launch the VLC media player on your PC.
2. Click the Tools menu at the top and select Preferences from the list.
3. Select the All option under the Show settings section.
4. Select Input / Codecs from the left pane column.
5. Under the Advanced section, increase the value in the File caching (ms) field.
6. Similarly, increase the value for the Network caching (ms) as well.
7. Click the Save button.

6. Reset the VLC Preferences

VLC allows you to customize a number of settings and preferences that affect its behavior. However, if some of these preferences in the VLC app are not configured correctly, it could cause it to misbehave on Windows. Instead of going through each of your preferences one by one, it’s easier to reset them all and start over.

To reset your VLC media player preferences, use these steps:

1. Launch the VLC media player on your PC.
2. Click the Tools menu at the top and select Preferences from the list.
3. In the Interface tab, click the Reset Preferences button at the bottom.
4. Click OK when the Are you sure you want to reset your VLC media player preferences dialog appears.

Restart the VLC media player and check if the videos still lag.

7. Update or Reinstall VLC Media Player

App updates are critical for any app, and VLC is no exception. If the video playback issues in the VLC media player are caused by a bug, installing newer updates should help.

To check for pending updates in the VLC media player:

1. Open the VLC media player on Windows.
2. Click the Help menu at the top and select Check for Updates.

If an update is available, follow the on-screen prompts to install it. After that, videos should play smoothly on Windows.

If updating the VLC media player doesn’t help, it’s possible that some of its core app files are corrupt. In that case, you can consider uninstalling and reinstalling the VLC media player as a last resort. For that, use the following steps:

1. Open the Start menu and click the gear-shaped icon to launch the Settings app.
2. Navigate to the Apps tab using the left sidebar.
3. Click on Installed apps.
4. Scroll through the list or use the search bar at the top to quickly locate VLC media player on the list. Click the three-dot menu icon next to it and select Uninstall.
5. Select Uninstall once again to confirm.

Once removed, open Microsoft Store on your PC and search for the VLC app. Then, click the Install button to download the app.

Enjoy Smooth Video Playback in VLC for Windows Again

Such issues with the VLC app can ruin your experience. Hopefully, the solutions above have helped you resolve the video lag issue in VLC for Windows, and you are now at ease.

Although VLC is a popular media player for Windows, it is not your only option. There are plenty of excellent media player apps available for Windows.

Reference: https://www.makeuseof.com/fix-video-lag-vlc-media-player-windows/

Ref: makeuseof

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