Fix Video Lag in VLC Media Player on Windows

When playing a video in VLC Media Player, if you are facing video lag or VLC lagging when skipping, it’s an issue reported multiple times and happens because of hardware, caching, or an issue with the file itself. This post will share solutions to fix video Lag in VLC Media Player on Windows.

Fix Video Lag in VLC Media Player on Windows

Your video on VLC may keep pausing and starting again because of video stuttering. This is what is called lag. Here are the solutions to fix the problem.

1. Disable Hardware Acceleration
2. Change the Caching Value
3. Change VLC Preferences
4. Reinstall or Update VLC

Make sure VLC supports the file you are trying to play.

1] Disable Hardware Acceleration

VLC’s hardware acceleration function uses the GPU to speed up the decoding procedure and produce a smoother video playback. But sometimes, this feature doesn’t work, and the VLC stuttering playback comes into the picture.

You can try turning off VLC’s hardware acceleration option to see if the problem gets resolved. This is how you turn off VLC’s hardware acceleration:

• Open the VLC media player, click the Tools tab, and choose Preferences.
• Click on the Input / Codecs option at the top of the window.
• Under Codecs next to Hardware-accelerated decoding, click on the drop-down next to it and choose the Disable option. Click Save.

Open VLC again and check whether the lag has disappeared.

2] Change the Caching Value

VLC caches some content for quicker playback when you stream a video from the internet using the application. You can try increasing the network and file cache sizes to fix the problem if you experience video lag while streaming.

Perform the steps given below to increase VLC’s network and file caching values:

• Open your VLC media player and navigate to Tools > Preferences.
• Under Show settings, click on the radio button next to All.
• Click on the Inputs/Codecs option from the left pane.
• Scroll down and locate the Advanced heading. Increase the value of the File caching (ms) field.
• Next, locate the Network caching (ms) field and increase its value.
• Click Save to save the changes, restart your VLC media player, and check whether the lag disappears.

Related: How to stream from VLC to Android or iPhone

3] Change VLC Preferences

You can change several VLC’s preferences and settings to change how it behaves. However, if some of these settings in the VLC player are not set up correctly, it can perform improperly on Windows. It is easier to reset them all and start again rather than going through each of your preferences one at a time. Here is how you reset VLC’s preferences:

• Open the VLC media player and navigate to Tools > Preferences.
• In the next window, locate the Reset Preferences button and click on it.

• When the Are you sure you want to reset your VLC media player preferences message appears, click OK, and you are done!

Restart your VLC media player, play the same video, and check whether the lag still exists.

4] Reinstall or Update VLC

If none of the above methods work, uninstall and reinstall the VLC media player via Windows Settings and check whether the lag persists. Here is how you reinstall the VLC media player:

• Open Settings and click on the Apps option on the left pane.
• Click the Installed Apps option on the right and search for the VLC app.
• Click on the three-dots menu beside the VLC media player and click on the Uninstall option from the context menu. Click on Uninstall again when prompted.
• After the VLC app is uninstalled, go to the VLC media player download page, download the app again, and check whether it works.

Conclusion

Lagging videos can be annoying when you watch something you are keen on. VLC lagging can happen to 4K videos or even 1080P videos. We hope one of the solutions in the article will help you eliminate the troublesome lag that shows up while playing videos on VLC.