How to fix audio and video playback freezes

How to fix audio and video playback freezes

It is so inconvenient when a video lags on modern PCs. Even if you're using a computer with great system specifications, there's still a possibility that you might be dealing with audio and video playback freezes. In this guide, I will show you how to easily fix this type of problems, eliminating the need for installing specialized third-party programs or upgrading your computer hardware. Whether you're using applications like VLC media player or Kodi for watching your favorite movies, the steps are very simple to complete and you can immediately start playing your films without dealing with any more issues.

In this article, I will show you how to resolve video and audio playback issues in VLC media player and Kodi, two of the most popular programs for watching movies on Windows PCs.

Fix Kodi Video playback issues

Kodi is a well-known open source media player that's compatible with numerous platforms and enables you to play streaming media as well as watch videos and listen to songs from your local directories and network storage. However, as a daily Kodi user, I've dealt with various playback issues. For example, video freezes while the audio continues. Kodi freezes during playback on rare occasions but this doesn't mean that it won't ruin your experience when it will happen. Here's how you can fix these choppy Kodi video playback issues:

Step 1

Launch the Kodi application on your PC.

Step 2

Start playing the video you wish to watch. Pause playback, click the gear icon on the bottom-right side of the main screen, and select the Video Settings option.

Accessing Kodi Video Settings

Step 3

Select the "On" option for the Deinterlace Method feature. Close the Video Settings window.

Optional: If the aforementioned option changed back to its default status (Auto), follow these steps: find the guisettings.xml file in the C:\Users\username\AppData\Roaming\kodi\userdata directory. Open the file in your default text editor and locate the "deinterlacemode" option. Switch values from 1 (which is Auto mode) to 2 (which is On mode).

Fix VLC player video freezes

VLC media player is another popular utility for watching movies and playing songs. This app is one of the best video players for Windows 10, comes without a price, and gives you access to a wide variety of useful features. Still, on some occasions, you might deal with playback issues like skipping and lagging. "VLC player video freezes sound keeps going" and "VLC MKV playback issues" are some of the most common problems you see online from users.

Here, I will show you how to fix VLC MKV playback issues with just a few clicks:

Step 1

Launch VLC media player on your computer. Go to Tools -> Preferences. Click the "All" button from the bottom side of the window to reveal every program option that VLC media player gives you access to.

VLC media player Show Options Settings

Step 2

Head to Input/Codecs -> Video Codecs -> FFmpeg. Find the "Skip the loop filter for H.264 decoding" option and select "All". Click the "Save" button. You can start watching your MKV file without having to deal with playback issues again.

Configuring Decoding Settings In VLC media player

Optional: If the aforementioned method didn't work for you (it's a small chance), the alternative would be to convert your MKV file to a format that's well supported by the VLC media player app.

Conclusion

As you can see, there are simple solutions for audio and video playback freezes whether you use VLC media player or Kodi on your Windows PC. It's very simple to complete the aforementioned steps and it only takes a few moments to fix the issues and resume playback.

Alternative downloads

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