Fix Video Lag in VLC Media Player on Windows

If you experience video lag or VLC lag when skipping when playing a video in VLC Media Player, this is a problem that has been reported multiple times and is due to hardware, caching, or a problem with the file itself. This post will introduce 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 stopping and starting again due to video stuttering. This is what is called lagging behind. Here are the solutions to fix the problem.

1. Disable hardware acceleration
2. Change caching value
3. Change VLC settings
4. Reinstall or update VLC

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

1] Disable hardware acceleration

The VLC hardware acceleration feature uses the GPU to speed up the decoding process and provide smoother video playback. But sometimes this feature doesn’t work and VLC playback stutter comes into play.

You can try disabling VLC’s hardware acceleration option to see if the issue is resolved. This is how you disable VLC hardware acceleration:

• Open the VLC media player, go to the “Tools”tab and select “Settings”.
• Click on the “Input/Codecs”option at the top of the window.
• In the Codecs section, next to Hardware Accelerated Decoding, click the dropdown next to it and select the Disable option. Click Save.

Open VLC again and check if the lag is gone.

2] Change caching value

VLC caches some content for faster playback when streaming videos from the Internet using the app. You can try increasing the network and file cache sizes to resolve the issue if you are experiencing video lag while streaming.

Follow the steps given below to increase network and VLC file caching values:

• Open the VLC media player and go to Tools > Preferences.
• In the “Show settings”section, check the radio button next to “All”.
• Click the Inputs/Codecs option in the left pane.
• Scroll down and look for the “Advanced”heading. Increase the value of the File Caching (ms) field.
• Then find the Network caching (ms) field and increase its value.
• Click “Save”to save changes, restart VLC media player and check if the delay is gone.

Related: How to Cast from VLC to Android or iPhone

3] Change VLC settings

You can change a few settings and settings in VLC to change how it behaves. However, if some of these settings in VLC player are not configured correctly, it may not work properly on Windows. It’s easier to reset them all and start over than it is to go through each of your preferences one by one. This is how you reset VLC settings:

• Open the VLC media player and go to Tools > Preferences.
• In the next window, find the “Reset settings”button and click on it.
• When the message “Are you sure you want to reset your VLC media player”appears, click “OK”and you’re done!

Restart VLC media player, play the same video and check if there is a delay.

4] Reinstall or update VLC

If none of the above methods work, uninstall and reinstall VLC media player via Windows settings and check if the delay persists. This is how you reinstall the VLC media player:

• Open “Settings”and click “Applications”on the left panel.
• Click “Installed Apps”on the right and find the VLC app.
• Click on the three-dot menu next to the VLC media player and select Uninstall from the context menu. Click “Delete”again when prompted.
• After uninstalling the VLC app, go to the VLC media player download page, download the app again and check if it works.

Conclusion

Lag videos can be annoying when you’re watching what you like. VLC lag can happen with 4K videos or even 1080P videos. We hope that one of the solutions described in the article will help you eliminate the annoying delay that occurs when playing videos on VLC.