How to Play Video Smoothly on PC – Guide

Windows 11 is the latest major version of Windows NT operating system developed by Microsoft, announced on June 24, 2021 and is the successor to Windows 10, released in 2015. Windows 11 was released to the public on October 5, 2021 , such as a free upgrade via Windows Update and Windows 11 Installation Assistant on eligible devices running Windows 10. Windows 11 includes major changes to the Windows Shell affected by canceled Windows 10X, including a redesigned Start menu, replacement of its “dynamic tiles” by a separate “Widgets” panel on the taskbar, creating sets of side-by-side windows. capacity is included. Microsoft only officially supports the operating system on devices that use eighth-gen or newer Intel Core CPUs (with a few minor exceptions), AMD Ryzen CPUs based on the Zen+ microarchitecture. New, or Qualcomm Snapdragon 850 ARM system-on-chip or newer, with UEFI Secure Boot and Trusted Platform Module (TPM) 2.0 supported and enabled (although Microsoft may provide exceptions to the TPM 2.0 requirement for OEMs). Although the OS can be installed on unsupported processors, Microsoft does not guarantee the availability of updates. Windows 11 also drops support for devices that use 32-bit x86 CPUs and BIOS firmware.

What factors affect video playback quality?

Smooth video playback comes down to a few hardware and software options. These choices affect offline and online video playback differently. Here’s what can negatively affect video playback: Whatever the case, smooth video playback is at your fingertips. Two other factors affect playback quality: offline or online video.

Offline video playback quality

Unstable offline video playback pertains to video playback from video files or DVDs. This is different from online video playback, due to network connection or other service issues (more on that soon). There are a few steps you can take to ensure smooth video playback with an offline source. Let’s take a look at these steps in a little more detail.

Update your media player

The first thing to do is update your media player. There are many excellent free video players for Windows. If you use a third-party media player, go to the company’s website and download the latest version of the software.

Install and update video and audio codecs

Second, make sure that all video and audio codecs are installed correctly. Codecs, for simplicity’s sake, process audio and video data. Sometimes certain video formats cannot be played on your PC. This is because you don’t have the proper video codec installed. Codecs sometimes get damaged or corrupted which can lead to distorted playback. To fix them, download and install codec packs. Microsoft has an official codec pack [Broken URL Removed] for these exact purposes. Download the file and double-click to install, following the onscreen instructions. Video codecs are a little confusing. If you want to know more, here’s everything you need to know about video codecs, containers, and compression.

Check if your hardware is capable

Make sure your PC is within range of hardware needed to play these videos. Video formats come with different qualities that determine their playability. For example, a 1080p video played at 30 FPS (frames per second) will require slightly lower performance than the same video at 60 FPS. The difference grows when comparing 1080p video with 4K or UHD video. The same goes for video rendering. Although video playback consumes less performance than video rendering, both involve PC performance. Generally, the more powerful hardware you have, the better video playback will be. If you have very old hardware, video playback may have problems for a few reasons. For example, an old 5400 RPM hard drive (or even a 4800 RPM one) might struggle to process a massive 4K video file fast enough for stable video playback. You may run into similar issues using a CPU that is drastically underpowered or if your system has a very small amount of RAM. There are solutions to these problems. For example, VLC media player is known to help smooth video playback on older hardware. Or you may have an older system with a discrete graphics processing unit (GPU). Some media players may use GPU hardware acceleration to offload some of the video processing load from the CPU, helping with video playback. There is no exact rule for minimum hardware required for smooth video playback. If you have a PC built in the last few years, you shouldn’t struggle with 4K offline video playback and other high resolution video formats.

Hardware and video encoding

There are other issues with the hardware like GPU compatibility and video encoding issues. Even some modern GPUs that can play the latest games at high settings don’t work with certain types of video encoding. If you have a modern GPU and a powerful system, but still encounter video playback issues, double-check that your GPU supports the type of video encoding you are trying to use.

Update your GPU drivers

Fourth and finally be sure to install up-Updated GPU drivers. GPU drivers will allow maximum output from your hardware. As CPU and GPU are often the main indicators of PC performance, updating your drivers will ensure video playback. At the very least, it can eliminate some stuttering issues in video playback.

Online video playback quality

Smooth online video playback often comes with the same requirements as offline video playback. However, there are some additional parameters to note.

Is your internet fast enough?

The first question you should ask for online video playback is related to your internet speed. Streaming Full HD, UHD, and 4K video online is a data-intensive task. Data requirements vary a bit, but in general you need to:

Are other programs using your internet?

Second, make sure you’re not clogging up your network with data-hungry programs. You can do this by right-clicking on the taskbar and selecting Task Manager. You will see the Processes tab of your Task Manager. Click the Network tab (and the percentage number that indicates network usage) to see which programs other than your browser are overloading up Dice. This also goes for RAM usage. Remember, smooth online playback requires optimal hardware. Click the Memory tab to order your selection from most to least usage. Right-click on any program that is not required for video playback (which is also not essential for using your PC) and select End Task. This will release up some performance power. Windows Task Manager is a versatile tool. Here are some Windows Task Manager tricks you can use to better manage your system.

Disable hardware acceleration in the browser

Third, disable hardware acceleration. Hardware acceleration allows browsers to hand off certain tasks to certain pieces of hardware. While your CPU can render, say, 3D models, it’s best to use a specialized hardware component such as the GPU to render that model. That’s because it can do it faster and usually has more processing power available to complete the activity. This process can sometimes lead to playback issues.

Check the video player type

Google Chrome permanently disables Flash Player on final 2020. Most browsers are switching to HTML5, a safer and more stable video playback option. If the video player is trying to use a Flash Player, your browser may no longer support this option. How will Adobe stop officially supporting Flash in final 2020, Flash Player will become (even more!) insecure.

Update your web browser

Update your web browser. Current browser versions can handle high quality video playback as more video repository sites like YouTube allow high quality image uploads. Old browser versions or buggy browser versions may limit video playback.

Final note

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