Summary: Are your 4K videos lagging, stuttering, or not playing at all in VLC Media Player? Here are the various methods to make your 4K ultra HD videos play smoothly in VLC Media Player. This post also shares how Stellar Repair for Video can repair 4K videos if they turn corrupt and don’t play in any media player including VLC.
Recording high-definition 4K videos is the new norm. You have all the latest cameras — DSLRs, action cameras, drone cameras or even mobile phones — supporting 4K resolution.
The 4K UHD video content is gradually making inroads into TV channels and streaming services such as Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Sling TV, and Hulu etc.
In such a scenario, you would want your highly compatible and thus favorite VLC Player to play all your 4K movies and videos. However, several VLC users complain that they cannot play 4K ultra HD videos in the media player, with lagging and stuttering reported as common issues.
So here, we bring the various methods you can use to fix VLC 4K lag and play high definition videos in the media player.
Methods to play 4K ultra HD videos in VLC Media Player
- Update VLC Media player
- Increase Cache Value
- Change Video Output Settings
- Disable Hardware-accelerated Decoding
- Change ‘Skip H.264 in-loop Deblocking Filter’ Setting
- Update Graphics Card Drivers
- Convert to compress 4K UHD videos
- Repair corrupt 4K UHD videos
1. Update VLC Media player
The VLC Media Player, in its latest version 3.0, comes with better support and capabilities for playing 4K UHD videos. Therefore, the first step to fix VLC 4K media playability issues is to download the latest version of VLC 3.0 Media Player and try it out to watch high-definition videos without any disturbance.
2. Increase Cache Value
This method works when your 4K UHD videos stutter or lag in VLC Media Player. Try increasing the Cache Values in the software settings.
Note: If you do not find Cache option in your VLC Player, update it.
Steps to increase Cache Value in VLC Media Player:
- Open Tools > Preferences
- In Show settings,select the All option
Figure: Show settings option in Preferences window
- In Advanced settings, click Input / Codecs
- Under the Advanced heading, change the value of File caching (ms) from 300 to a higher value like 10,000 or 20,000.
| Tip: you can also change Network caching (ms) and Disc caching (ms) to higher values and check which one setting works best to fix 4K videos issues. |
3. Change Video Output Settings
For many users, switching the video output to DirectX DirectDraw or OpenGL makes the 4K HD videos playable in VLC Media Player.
Steps to change Video Output settings in VLC Player:
- Click on Tools > Preferences> Video
- Under Video Settingsin Output, change Automatic to DirectX (DirectDraw) video output. You can also try OpenGL.
- Click Save
4. Disable Hardware-accelerated Decoding
With hardware accelerated decoding, the task of playing certain videos (usually H.264 MP4 videos) is taken off from CPU and handed over to GPU of your computer. VLC Media Player can use computer’s GPU to accelerate decoding of some type of video codec streams. If you are facing video problem in playing any 4k video file in VLC, try once by disabling the hardware-accelerated decoding.
Steps to disable hardware-accelerated decoding:
- Open VLC Media Player.
- Click on Tool > Preference>Input /
- Click on box across the Hardware-accelerated Decoding option and choose Disable.
Figure: Hardware-accelerated Decoding option
- Click Save Next restart VLC Player and play 4K video.
5. Change ‘Skip H.264 in-loop Deblocking Filter’ Setting
One way to fix video lagging while playing high-definition video files in VLC is by changing ‘skip h.264 in-loop deblocking filter’ setting to ‘All’. Although this will lower the video quality but make the playback smooth.
Steps to change ‘skip h.264 in-loop deblocking filter’:
- Open VLC Media Player.
- Click Tool > Preference>Input / Codecs.
- Go to Skip H.264 in-loop deblocking filter option, and change it to All.
- Click Save. Restart VLC player to play 4K video again.
6. Update Graphics Card Drivers
You can update graphics card drivers by using Windows Update feature. Simply go to Start menu. Click on Settings > Update and Security and click Check for Updates button. This will automatically perform regular Windows Updates and also check for new drivers.
Figure: Check for updates in Windows update window
You can directly update drivers by visiting the manufacturer’s website and follow the graphic card driver update guide. For instance, Nvidia users can refer Nvidia Update from here.
7. Convert to compress 4K UHD videos
Even when your computer meets the intensive graphics and processor requirement, large-sized 4K videos may not play in VLC. You can compress your videos to a smaller size with the help of online video compressor tools.
These tools can convert and compress 4K UHD videos like H.264 MP4, MOV, AVI, etc. to HD format for smooth playback on VLC Player.
8. Repair corrupt 4K UHD videos
None of the above methods worked?
Then your videos might have gone corrupted. To rule out the video damage or corruption issue, try to play them in another supporting media player like 5KPlayer or DivX Player. If they still do not play, then you need to repair your 4K UHD videos with a secure video repair tool such as Stellar Repair for Video.
Watch the Video on “How to Repair a Corrupt Videos” with Stellar Repair for Video
Steps to repair 4K HD videos not playing in VLC Media Player:
- Download Stellar Repair for Videoon your Mac or Windows system.
- Click on Add File to add problem video file.
- Click on Repair.
- Preview and click on Save Repaired Files.
The software can easily repair high-definition 4K video files that got corrupt during any of the several stages of video production namely shoot, file transfer, editing, converting or processing of videos etc.
It is a widely used video repair software, which has up to 30% faster repair speed compared to other repair programs. Once repaired, you can seamlessly play your 4K video in VLC Media Player.
To Sum Up
You love VLC as a free and open source Media Player. However, the player might annoy you when it comes to watching 4K ultra HD videos and movies.
Rather than half-heartedly switching over to a new media player, try out the above methods and play your 4K videos smoothly in your all-time favorite VLC Media Player.
Also read
How to Repair Corrupt MP4 and MOV File using VLC
How to Fix Video Lag, Stutter or Glitches?
About The Author
Sumona is a tech blogger, avid photographer, & technogeek with vast experience in writing about media file recovery tips and tutorials. She has over 10 years of experience in media file recovery/media file repair technology. She is passionate about Photography, Creative Designing, Music, and Exploring lesser-known destinations.
This is the first time I’ve had any problem with VLC playing a video. Changing the video output to GL worked for me to decode an HEVC (Main10@L4) video. Thanks for the article!
Hi Scott, Thanks for your appreciation. Keep reading for the next update!
I am so frustrated. VLC always worked well for me and had the best quality. Now, no matter what i do, the video skips/stutters slightly every 10 seconds. This happens on all videos through VLC. All other players work fine. Please help! Thanks in advance.
Hi Matthew, Please update your VLC media player or follow the given steps as we mentioned on our blog!
Thanks for your response. Unfortunately none of those things worked for me.
Hi Matthew,
It means that video files not supported for a VLC media player. More information you can contact through email support[@]stellarinfo.com or call +1-877-778-6087.
I have the most recent version of VLC.
I tried everything you suggested and nothing fixes the issue.
The files are not corrupted, audio will play fine, but video is jittery and freezes.
Is it possible my I3 processor is the problem. (I have 12 gigs of RAM)
Hi Jesse,
I suggest you can try your video file to another system. In case the issue will not resolve, you can contact our support through email support[@]stellarinfo.com or call +1-877-778-6087.
Thanks for providing the methods to Increasing cache size value in VLC media player.
Hi Rick, Thank you very much!
Hello Sumona,
I have a 64Gb M2TS video file which I was trying to play via VLC. I got a i3 processor with 6GB RAM. Any other settings you recommend .. Audio seems to be fine but Video freezes
Hi Anish, I suggest you need to update your VLC media player. If still the same issue need to increase Cache Value in VLC Media Player.
I don’t see any “Use GPU acceleration” option
Hi Dev, Please Update your VLC media player and follow the given steps:
1. Go-to Tools Menu
2.Tools>Preferences
3.Click the “Input / Codecs” tab, click the “Hardware-accelerated Decoding” box under Codecs, and set it to “Automatic”.
Currently, my main media player on Windows (10 Pro x64) is VLC but I noticed that when I want to play UHD content (2K, 4K videos) it freezes.
My PC’s configuration: Intel i7 3770, 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD, nVidia GTX 970 4GB.
The sound is OK but the picture is freezing (2-3 frames per minutes).
I’ve tried to set the codecs or enabled/disabled the GPU acceleration without success.
What should I set to play this kind of content flowless?
P.S.: Media Player Classic plays the same file so smooth but I want to keep VLC as the main player.
Regards
MJ
Hi Michael,
If all the above methods have been tried, then you can try ffmpeg loop filter skipping
• Go to Tools > Preferences. In Show settings option, select All to switch from Simple to Advanced Preferences.
• Go to Input / Codecs > Video Codecs > FFmpeg.
• Under FFmpeg audio/video decoder , select Skip the loop filter for H.264 decoding
• Change it from None to All, and ensure that Hardware decoding value is disabled
Let me know if it works.
This worked great for me as well as another comment, thank you!
I had the same problems with choppy, stuttering 4K videos from my drone. I started with resetting my VLC to default settings. Then I went to “Input/Codecs” and set “Hardware Acceleration” to “Automatic”. Not found the solution the video is as it is. Any advice?
Hello Donna, Please update your VLC media player then Play your video or Under Video Settings in Output, change Automatic to Direct X (DirectDraw) video output. You can also try OpenGL. Then Click Save.
I had a new MacBook Pro laptop, facing trouble 4k HD movies, I found your blog and fix the problem on my new laptop and it runs beautifully. Thank you very much!!
Hi Luce, Thanks for your appreciation!!
Now I have solved this to some extent by resetting preferences. However if I try to use the interactive zoom, a great feature of VLC, my favorites, then the picture just freezes. This article help me a lot. Thank!
Hi Lanty, Thanks for your appreciation!