Experiencing choppy or laggy videos on your Windows 11 machine? Your system settings might be the culprit. This can impact your enjoyment of movies and shows on your device. The good news is that you can often smooth things out by tweaking a few settings. Here’s how to optimize Windows 11 for smooth video playback in media apps and streaming services:
Adjust Video Playback Settings
Many media apps, like Windows Media Player, Photos, Netflix, and Hulu, rely on the built-in Windows video platform. This means you can adjust video playback directly within Windows settings.
- Open the Settings app from the Start menu or press
Win + I, then click on “Apps” on the left sidebar.
- On the “Apps” page, select “Video playback”.
- Here, you’ll find options to optimize video playback. If your internet connection is slow, try enabling the option that lowers the video resolution. This can help prevent buffering and lagging.
- If you keep the above option disabled, you might see an alternative for saving power by reducing video resolution when your laptop is on battery. This, too, can prevent lag.
- You might also see an option to automatically adjust video based on ambient lighting. Disabling this could potentially lead to smoother playback.
Tips for smoother playback
Here are some tips to try to get smoother video playback on your Windows 11 PC.
Tip 1: Change the graphics settings for media apps
Windows 11 lets you customize graphics settings for individual apps. Prioritizing performance can lead to smoother video.
- Open the Settings app and click “System” on the left.
- On the “System” page, click “Display”.
- Scroll down to “Related settings” and select “Graphics”.
- You’ll see a list of apps here. Click on the app you want to adjust, like your preferred media player, to expand the dropdown.
- Use the “GPU preference” dropdown. If you’re on battery, choose “Power saving”. If you want better performance when plugged in, choose “High performance”.
- Add more apps via the “Add desktop app” or “Add Microsoft Store app” buttons to manage graphics settings for all your media players.
Tip 2: Turn off Hardware Acceleration
Hardware acceleration allows programs to offload tasks like decoding and rendering to the GPU. While this usually improves performance, sometimes it can cause issues. Disabling it might lead to smoother video.
The location to disable this varies by application, but it’s usually found in the app’s settings.
Tip 3: Turn on software rendering
If you have problems while streaming videos online, enabling software rendering could resolve the issue. This is especially helpful if you have an older GPU.
- Open the Control Panel from the Start menu and click on “Network and Sharing Center”.
- Then click on “Internet options” on the bottom left.
- When the “Internet Properties” dialog box opens, go to the “Advanced” tab and check “Use software rendering instead of GPU rendering”. Click “OK”.
Change the battery settings
If you are on a laptop, you can adjust battery settings to either improve video playback or extend battery life.
- If you want to maximize the battery life of your device, you can disable the option that adjusts the video based on ambient lighting when your device is running on battery.
- Additionally, you can lower video resolution to extend the battery life of your laptop.
Important notes
- Double-check the video files themselves. Try playing them in different apps. If the problem persists, the files might be corrupted and need replacing.
- Ensure your media player is up-to-date. Outdated apps can have bugs or incompatibility issues. Try resetting it.
- Consider using third-party tools to repair corrupted video files.
- Other helpful steps include updating Windows, checking for graphics driver updates, disabling unnecessary background apps, and running a malware scan.