Read time: 6 minutes
TL;DR:
- Update graphics card in your system.
- Make sure your internet connection is stable and steady.
- Disable hardware acceleration to see if it resolves the issue.
- Free up RAM space by closing all applications running in the background.
- Check for corruption in the video file; it may be causing the issue.
- Clear Browser history and accumulated cache.
- Take Windows OS to a previous restore point.
Experiencing videos playing slowly error is frustrating, especially if you’re unwinding with your favorite movie or trying to see an important business update. It spoils the video watching experience completely. Good thing is that it’s easy to fix this video playing in slow motion issue by updating media player or checking network connection. This article will talk in detail about the common reasons why users face this problem and the best ways to fix this error as soon as possible.
Why does videos playing in slow motion issue arise?
Before we go ahead to fix video playing in slow motion issue, it is essential to understand the causes behind it. Some of them have been mentioned below:
- Low internet speed or bandwidth.
- Low RAM space of the system.
- Incomplete or interrupted windows update.
- Using Outdated version of Windows.
- Incorrect system configurations.
- An older version of graphics driver.
- Minor to severe corruption in the video itself.
- Virus or malware attack on system.
How to fix the videos playing in slow motion issue?
There could be various reasons behind this issue but to fix video playing in slow motion, users must opt for the right approaches. Let us go through these methods one by one and see how to fix the video playing error quickly.
Method 1. Make sure you’ve good internet speed
There are chances that your internet connection is weak or unstable due to which your video is playing in slow motion. First, you need to set up high speed internet to play your videos without any issues. Once you have shifted to high-speed internet, then you can try to play your video again and check if the issue is resolved or not.
Method 2. Free up RAM space
If there are a lot of applications running in the background simultaneously, you might face trouble playing videos on your system. Particularly in the case of Ultra HD videos (1440p and 4K), these video files need a lot of RAM space for a smooth playback. Close all the apps running in the background that are no longer in use to free up space. Follow the steps below to do this:
- Press Alt, Ctrl, and Shift keys simultaneously on your keyboard to open Task Manager. Alternatively, you can also right-click on the taskbar and choose Task Manager from the list.
- A list of all the applications and processes running in the background will come up on your screen.
- Select all the running applications that are no longer useful and right-click End Task all applications individually.
- Try playing your video to see if the video playing in slow motion issue got fixed or not.
Method 3. Clear browser history and cache
Often, accumulated cookies and cache slow down your system functions and can be the reason for minor issues like video playing slowly. So, it’s better to clear browser history and cache on a regular basis. Follow the steps below for this:
- Open your default browser and click on Menu (three dots) > History.
- Click on the Clear browsing data option to redirect to the Settings.
- Select the desired Time Range to delete browser history.
- Tick the Browser history, Cookies and other site data, and Cached images and files options, and finally click on Clear data.
Method 4. Disable hardware acceleration
Sometimes when the GPU gets overloaded or overheated, it affects the video playback and causes the video file to lag, stutter, or display a black screen. If you disable hardware acceleration, it takes the load off the GPU and assigns the video rendering tasks to the system’s CPU. Follow the given steps to disable hardware acceleration on your system:
- Open your default web browser and click on the Menu (three dots) > Settings.
- Select System from the left pane and turn off Use hardware acceleration when available.
- Relaunch your web browser for the changes to take effect.
Method 5. Update Graphics Card Driver
One of the reasons for videos playing slow on your system may be the outdated Graphics Card Driver. There’s a chance it may be outdated and the newest update is available for download. Follow the instructions given below to update the Graphics Card Driver on your system:
- Search Device Manager on your system’s search box and open it.
- Double click on Display adapters and right-click on your Graphics Card Driver and click Update Driver Software.
- Follow the further given steps to complete the Update.
- Once the update is completed, run your videos again.
Method 6. Reinstall your web browser
Sometimes the video may encounter problems while playing because of issues with your web browser. You can try to reinstall your web browser to fix video playback issues. Follow the below mentioned steps to reinstall your web browser:
- Open Control Panel and search for Programs and Features option.
- Select your web browser (we’ve used Google Chrome), right click on it and then click on Uninstall option.
- Now, from Google’s official website, reinstall the browser again and see if the problem persists.
Method 7. Bring Windows back to a restore point
In some cases, new updates can also be the cause of videos playing slowly. An easy way to recall all the changes made by the Windows update is by bringing your Windows OS back to a restore point. The steps for this are given below:
- Press Win + Q on your keyboard and type Create a restore point in the search bar.
- In the System Protection tab, click on System Restore to open a new window.
- In the System Restore window, click on Next and select the restore point in the next step.
- Click on the Scan for affected programs button and then follow the on-screen directions.
- Once this process is completed, your Windows system will go back to the selected restore point.
- Check if you’re facing any further issues with video playback or not.
Is corruption the reason for video playing in slow motion error? Let’s find out
If your video file is not playing even after trying all the above-mentioned methods, it is possible that the problem is within your video file itself. One of the common reasons behind video playing in slow motion is corruption in your video files. Sometimes these files throw an error displaying the corruption issue, and sometimes it affects the videos by lowering their quality, displaying visual artifacts, or even playing speed. A trusted video repair software can help in this case.
Kernel Video Repair is one such option that can be used to repair video files affected by corruption and restore the affected videos back to their original quality. It supports recovery of video files from devices like smartphones, cameras, drones, CCTV systems, and dashcams, with the help of a healthy reference file. majority of tool for the best outcome.
Conclusion
Videos playback issues can be disturbing for users as they can destroy their video watching experience. The present blog provides you with the causes and manual solutions to fix videos playing in slow motion issue. However, manual methods are not effective enough and can cause some serious issues with your video files. To keep your video files safe, make sure you backup all your video files regularly and keep your media player and graphics drivers updated.
Frequently asked questions
A. If online videos are playing in slow motion on Google Chrome, then it can be because of browser settings, unstable network connection, or faulty third-party add-ins.
A. If your videos play perfectly in one media player but not in another, maybe the issue lies with unsupported codecs or hardware acceleration settings.
A. Yes, changing video resolution can fix the videos playing slowly error if the issue is only with high resolution videos like 4K.
