How Do I Fix Video Lag on Windows 11?

Many Windows 11 users have experienced severe video lag across all apps and video platforms. Video playback is sometimes delayed by 5-10 seconds across all media players and streaming platforms. This is a really annoying issue, especially when you’re trying to watch your favorite Netflix series. Let’s see what you can do to troubleshoot video lag on Windows 11.

How to Fix Delayed Video Playback on Windows 11

Install the Latest Graphics Driver Version

Be sure to update your graphics driver to the latest version. Use the Device Manager to automatically update your drivers or manually download them from your GPU manufacturer’s website.

1. Launch the Device Manager.
2. Click on the arrow next to Display adapters.
3. Right-click on your graphics driver.
4. Select Update driver.
5. Wait until your computer installs the latest graphics driver version.
6. Restart your machine, and check if video playback is still delayed.

If this is the case, right-click again on your graphics driver and select Uninstall device. Restart your computer to reinstall the GPU driver. Then, go to your GPU manufacturer’s website and manually check for updates to ensure your computer is running the latest graphics driver version.

• Get the latest Nvidia driver updates
• Install the latest AMD driver version

Speaking of updates, be sure to update your media player and browser to the latest version as well.

Disable Hardware Acceleration

Try disabling hardware acceleration if you’re experiencing video lag on Netflix or Youtube. Open a new browser tab, go to Settings, and type “hardware acceleration” in the Search field. Toggle off hardware acceleration, refresh your browser, and check if you notice any improvements.

Close Background Programs

Low-specs computers often have a hard time running multiple programs simultaneously, especially when you’re playing multimedia content. Close all the unnecessary programs running in the background to free up more system resources for playing videos. You can use the Task Manager to list and force-stop background programs. Alternatively, you can also clean boot your computer.

Windows 11 Prioritizes Foreground Processes

Windows 11 heavily prioritizes foreground apps and processes over background processes to save resources as a quick reminder. For example, Edge automatically puts inactive tabs to sleep to reduce memory and CPU usage. Videos may sometimes stutter when you’re using Picture-in-Picture mode on Edge. The focus goes to the foreground area. However, when you click on the Picture-in-Picture overlay and get the small video window back into focus, the video playback is smooth again.

As you can see, the new Windows 11 architecture prioritizes active windows and apps over background processes. This may sometimes cause background processes such as video playback to suffer. If you’re experiencing video lag when playing online games with Picture-in-Picture mode enabled, cap your FPS settings to 60 and check if videos still lag when not in focus.

Conclusion

To fix video lag issues on Windows 11, update your graphics driver to the latest version. Then, go to browser settings, and disable hardware acceleration. Close unnecessary background programs to free up system resources. If this issue affects Picture-in-Picture mode when playing games, cap your FPS settings.

Do you often experience video playback issues on Windows 11? Let us know in the comments below.