4 Common VLC Media Player Problems & Its Complete Fixes

The VLC media player is an open-source multimedia platform which is available in Operating systems as well as in mobile such as iOS, Windows 10, Android, Linux and more. It was developed by the VideoLAN project in February (2001).

Though it’s an old app it still gives the best movie quality but now Windows users reported some issues such as the VLC media player not working, VLC media player crashing, lagging, scrambled video, and more.

Well, these are pretty common issues that users are reporting in the forum thread.

If you are among those users troubled with VLC not working problem then read our article and follow the working solutions mentioned below on How to Fix VLC Media Player Problems.

Along with solutions also get to know why VLC player not working and what can be done to make it work.

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Common VLC Media Player Problems:

There are numerous problems with the VLC media player that interrupts you from watching videos. Some of the common problems are stated below along with their solutions. Go ahead find which problem you are facing and solve it.

VLC Media Player Is Lagging/Stuttering/Skipping
Scrambled Video Playback In VLC Player
VLC Media Player Keeps Crashing
VLC Not Working

How to Fix VLC Media Player Problems?

Several ways are there to make your VLC work properly. Go through the solutions one by one to fix VLC not working properly in Windows 10/11.

1: VLC Media Player Is Lagging/Stuttering/ Skipping

If your VLC lagging then you can fix this issue by following the solutions given below:

Solution 1: Change the caching value

Open the VLC player and press Ctrl + P to open Preference
At the bottom of the page, you will see Show settings with two options, select All.

Now, go to the Input/Codes section and search for the File caching option.
Change the value from 300 to 1000 and click on Save.

Check if the VLC media player lagging video problem is fixed or else head to the next solution.

Solution 2: Try Disabling Hardware Decoding

Some users have found saying that after disabling Hardware decoding their VLC player stuttering issue is solved. Follow the steps to disable hardware decoding:

Open VLC player and press CTRL + P>show settings, select All
Go to the Input/Codes section
Navigate Hardware-accelerated decoding and Disable it

After performing the above steps VLC player stuttering issue will be solved.

Solution 3: Change the Video Output Module

If you are facing a Video lagging issue in the VLC media player then simply change the output module by following the steps:

Open the VLC player and press CTRL + P>show settings, select All
Go to the Video Output module
Select the output module one after the other till you find the one that will work for you.

It is estimated now the VLC player lagging, stuttering, buffering problem is fixed.

2: Scrambled Video Playback In VLC Player

To fix scrambled video playback in VLC problem try the below-given solutions one by one:

Solution 1: Turn Off Accelerated Video Output

Many users confirmed that scrambled video playback in VLC media player problem is fixed by turning off the accelerated video output option.

So here it is suggested to follow the steps given to disable it:

Open VLC player
Press CRTL + P to open Preferences.
Select ‘Video’
Under ‘Display’ settings, turn off ‘Accelerated video output’
Click on ‘Save’

Now, try playing the video file to see if the scrambling is gone.

Solution 2: Increase the Network Caching Rate

If the above-given solution won’t work for you then increasing the network caching rule worked for many. it is worth to given it a try.

Follow the steps to do so:

Open VLC player
Press CTRL +P
Select ‘All’ under the ‘Show Settings’ at the bottom.

Select the ‘Input/Codecs’
Look for the ‘Advanced’ section and ‘Network Caching (ms)’.

Increase the value of this caching and then try playing the video again.

This will take a minute trial but increasing the network caching rate will fix the scrambled video playback in VLC.

Also Read: VLC Media Player Cannot Play YouTube Videos [SOLVED]

Solution 3: Play the Media from different Local Drive

If you are playing a video file from a network drive or an external network drive or Windows 10 DVD, then try copying it to your desktop and then play it.

This will work if the file that is played without any difficulties suddenly starts stuttering while playback. Sometimes, drives go into a sleep state and VLC stops working properly. So, it will be beneficial for you if move your media to local storage.

This way scrambled video playback in VLC issue will be solved and moreover, the issue won’t occur anymore.

3: VLC Media Player Keeps Crashing

VLC media keeps crashing because of several reasons like unrecognized data including the problem with the pre-loading of MKV files.

If you are facing a VLC player keeps crashing then follow the below-given solutions to fix VLC media player crash problem.

Solution 1: Fix Corrupt Files

Exit VLC
Double-click on This PC/My Computer
Click on the View tab and check for Hidden files
Open the directory:

C:\User\User_Name\AppData\Roaming\VLC

Right-click on the file named VLCC and Rename it

Solution 2: Compatibility Settings

Compatibility settings in Windows will allow you to run the programs in the current version of Windows. Run VLC in compatibility mode to fix VLC keeps crashing Windows 10/11.

Follow the steps:

Open File Explorer
Navigate the Directory:

Windows 64 bit: C:\Program Files (x86)\VideoLAN\VLC

Windows 32-bit: C:\Program Files\VideoLAN\VLC

Right-click on exe and select properties
Click on the compatibility tab
Check on the Run this program in compatibility mode for and select Window’s previous version

Click on OK

Solution 3: Try Disabling Pre-loading MKV Files

Some Windows users have fixed their VLC media player crashing issue by disabling the pre-loading MKV files. Follow the steps to do so:

Open VLC media player
Press CTRL + P to open preferences
At the bottom of the page select All>show settings

Expand the nodes given below:

Input/ Codecs

Demuxers

Matroska

Un-tick the Pre-load MKV files
Click Save.

Solution 4: Reinstall the VLC player

If your VLC media player crashes issue is not solved by any of the above-given solutions then try reinstalling the VLC player to fix this issue.

Follow the steps to uninstall and reinstall VLC:

Press Windows + X key
Select Apps and Features
Select VLC media player and uninstall it
Reboot your computer
Re-install the VLC setup from the official website
Double-click on the installer and follow the instructions on the screen

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Hope now your question about how to fix the VLC media player crash is solved and you are able to use the VLC media player with ease.

4: VLC Not Working

Many users are asking the same question why is my VLC player not working? Well, the problem commonly occurs due to a common VLC glitch, or due to a video card.

Sometimes the preference setting or playing a codec that is not installed can also cause the VLC not working issue.

To solve this issue, very first quit the program and then restart VLC, if this won’t work for you to fix the VLC media player not working Windows 10 problem, then go through the solutions provided below.

Solution 1: Alter Power Settings

To reduce power consumption if your PC is in Battery Saver mode, your usage of hardware is reduced. For the smooth playing of HD, video hardware demands more power.

High performances power consumes access to power which drains battery life. So, to keep the power supply at medium and also to have an HD video player you need to change power settings in order to extend battery life in Windows 10.

Follow the steps to do so:

Go to the Control Panel and click on Power Options.
Click on the radio button with High performance

Now adjust it according to your PC.

Solution 2: Alter FFmpeg audio/video decoder

If you facing a lagging issue in the VLC media player with MKV file, then change the number of FFmpeg threads that are used for transcoding multimedia files to the value 2.

Follow the steps to change the settings:

Open the VLC media player and click on Tools.
From the Tools drop-down menu, go to the Preference from the tools drop-down menu or press CTRL + P to open
At the bottom of the page select All under show settings
Click on the Input/ Codecs section
Go to the Video codecs
Expand the Video codecs and click on the FFmpeg.

Search for the Threads option and change its value to 2.
Click on Save to apply the changes.

Conclusion

Well, that’s all about VLC media player problems. The above-provided solutions will help you to fix all VLC-related issues.

Make sure to follow the solutions given one by one and fix VLC media player not working problems in Windows 10 & 11.

Hope this article helped you in solving your VLC-related issues such as crashing, lagging, scrambled video, stuttering and more.

However, if you have any suggestions or questions regarding this article then feel free to share them on our Facebook Page.

Good Luck..!

Hardeep Kaur

Hardeep has always been a Windows lover ever since she got her hands on her first Windows XP PC. She has always been enthusiastic about technological stuff, especially Artificial Intelligence (AI) computing. Before joining PC Error Fix, she worked as a freelancer and worked on numerous technical projects.