Choppy Video Playback? What is it, and How can it be fixed?

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This article explains choppy video problems, why they occur, and what you can do about choppy playback fixes and solutions.

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Disruption, interruption, buffering, and lag can all ruin our video-watching or streaming experience. The problem is characterized by frequent pauses, stuttering visuals, distorted or inconsistent audio, etc. These can get triggered for reasons like insufficient system resources, incompatible device specifications, outdated hardware and drivers, problematic software, video file corruption, etc.

Thereby disrupting the immersive and high-quality video-viewing experience.

Addressing the issue of choppy videos is vital for ensuring that users and video viewers can fully enjoy their video-watching activities without any unnecessary interruptions and issues.

How To Fix Choppy Video Files?

Are you sure the issue is with the video file(s)? It can also be with the Media Player. 

So, find out if the issue is with the video files or the Media Player. I recommend playing the same choppy video file on another Media Player. You could play the same video files on a different Media Player without issues or glitches. Then, the issue is with the Media Player. In that case, you can try the solutions mentioned in the next section.

However, your files will be corrupted if the video shows the same choppiness, jerkiness, or stuttering issue on different media players.

This article discusses various solutions. Solution 1 discusses fixing the issue with the Video files and other choppy video solutions. This list will discuss fixing issues with the media player displaying choppy videos.

Solution 1: Repair Choppy Videos Using the Rikvr Video Repair Tool

Repair Corrupt Video Files Using the Rikvr Video Repair Tool

Rikvr is a professional tool for fixing various issues and problems, such as video skipping, video playback stuttering, video playback lagging, choppy video delay, and choppy video frame drops.

Regardless of what happened to your video files, tools like Rikvr are designed to help users fix their videos without compromising quality.

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For Windows

Steps to Repair Choppy Videos using the Rikvr Video Repair Tool

1: Download and install the Rikvr Video repair software on your system.

2: Launch the tool, select the video file you want to repair, and start the video repair process.

fix choppy video playback issue using Rikvr video repair software

3: Once the tool is done repairing the selected video file. It will display all the details about the repaired file and video.

Save the repaired video on any location of your choice

4: Preview the repaired video file and save it in any location.

Preview the video file that was repaired using the Rikvr video repair software

If the issue is with the Video Player, try the following solutions.

Solution 2: Restart Your System

Restarting the system can be a simple yet effective solution. Restarting your computer or laptop can help you clear temporary files, reset system resources, terminate and close running applications, reset and refresh your network connections, and reinitialize drivers and other hardware components necessary to play video files smoothly.

Some or all of these issues can be why you cannot play your favorite video files smoothly. 

You can choose the restart option, which will automatically shut down and restart your system. Alternatively, you can shut down manually and boot the system again. 

Please note that this solution works if the system slows down, software clashes and glitches occur, insufficient system resources, etc.

Solution 3: Close the Unwanted Background Application

Closing unwanted or unused background applications can improve your system’s performance and fix choppy videos. 

This solution frees up the system’s CPU, GPU, and memory since playing high-quality, high-resolution videos is resource-intensive. 

1: Press the Windows + X buttons simultaneously, and then click on the Task Manager option from the list.

2: The Task Manager window will display a list of all the applications running in the background.

3: Right-click on any application and click the End Task option from the drop-down menu. This will stop the application immediately.

4: You can do this for as many applications as you think are unnecessary. 

5: After closing the unwanted applications, try playing the same video files on any Media Player. 

Please check to see if the issue has been resolved. If it has not, you can try the following solutions.

Solution 4: Check the Compatibility of Your System

Playing high-definition videos flawlessly demands highly capable resources like CPU, GPU, and RAM. In addition to updated drivers and codecs, operating systems, and compatible networks are all required to play the video files smoothly without encountering issues like choppiness, skippy, jerky, etc. 

The basic requirements are as follows; 

A multi-core processor with at least 2.5 GHz per core or above is highly preferred. GPU with at least 2-4 GB VRAM. RAM of at least 8 GB, but 16 is highly recommended. 

Apart from that, I recommend you use SSDs rather than traditional drives since they offer much faster read/write speeds. The display monitor should be compatible with playing 1080p, 4K, or video files with a 60 Hz refresh rate. The operating system should be at least Windows 10 and later versions, as well as macOS Mojave and other newer versions.

Suppose your device does not match the requirements mentioned above. I suggest you upgrade the hardware.

Or, you can reduce the resolution of the video files to make them trouble-free.

Solution 5: Reduce the Choppy Playback Resolution

Higher resolutions and high-quality videos require more processing power and resources, as discussed earlier. 

In such cases, you can either upgrade hardware devices or update the software, which involves spending money and is time-consuming. On the other hand, reduce the resolution of the choppy videos.

Reducing the resolution of the choppy video can help in resolving the issue.

This solution can reduce the load on processing power from both the CPU and GPU and the memory or RAM usage. Reducing the resolution also decreases the bitrate, demands less bandwidth, and reduces the likelihood of buffering and stuttering due to network limitations.

It also ensures better compatibility with the hardware, leading to smoother playback.

Solution 6: Increase the Speed of the Choppy Videos in VLC

Increasing the video playback speed in the VLC Media Player or any other Media Player can be useful in addressing the choppy video issue. 

Increasing the playback speed can reduce buffering and syncing issues and help align the audio or video components more easily. This solution also helps smooth out any minor stutters and delays that might be causing choppiness in your video files. 

Do note: This is a temporary solution and not a permanent fix. 

Another quick fix is disabling the antivirus software.

Solution 7: Disable the Anti-Virus Software

Anti-virus software can help fix choppy video playback issues. These tools or applications can sometimes interfere with video playback by consuming significant system resources or scanning video files and marking them as threats to your system. 

Disabling or deactivating them might help you minimize disk activity, reduce and free up disk space and other resources, and free up significant amounts of RAM. 

This solution can also help you address conflicting applications, leading to software conflicts and causing choppiness in your favorite videos. 

Once you are done disabling the antivirus software. Try playing the video files again and see if the issue of the choppiness was fixed and the videos were playing smoothly without any issues.

If the issue persists, you can try other solutions, such as updating the device drivers and converting the choppy video files to another format. 

Additionally, you can exclude your Media Player, video file directories, and video files. Updating the Anti-Virus software and regularly optimizing your system’s resource usage for enhanced performance can also help.

Solution 8: Update Device Drivers

Drivers are the essential components that allow communication between software and hardware components.

At times, drivers such as graphics, audio, network, motherboard/chipset, and display drivers might become outdated or damaged. In such cases, you need to update or reinstall them.

1: Search for Device Manager in the search bar of your Windows system.

2: A list of all the drivers installed on your system will appear on your screen.

3: Select the drivers mentioned above one at a time by left-clicking on them and selecting the drivers from the drop-down menu.

4: Click the Update Drive option and choose Search automatically for updated drive software.

5: Once the drivers are updated, restart your system.

Please try playing the video files and see if the issue has been resolved. You should be able to play the video files smoothly without any issues.

Solution 9: Convert the File Format of the Choppy Videos

The last solution in this list is to convert the video file format of choppy videos into a different file format. 

At times, converting the video file format that was choppy, skippy, or jerky into a healthy file format can help resolve choppy playback issues.

The video file you were using might not have been compatible with the video player you were using, or the codecs might also have been incompatible. 

The best solution is to change the file format of your video files into a different format, which can help.

You can do it using multiple tools, including the VLC Media Player and online converter tools.

This brings us to the end of our article on choppy video troubleshooting.

Conclusion

Addressing and fixing the choppy video playback issue can greatly enhance the video viewing or streaming experience.

Identifying and resolving the issues related to the video files, Media Player, software configurations, hardware limitations, or network instability if streaming online.

I recommend you ensure your device meets the required specifications, update the display and graphic drivers, update the media player and the operating system, etc. Additionally, you can adjust video quality settings and close unnecessary background applications. In case of video file corruption or other video-related issues, you can use a backup or healthy copy of video files or repair the problematic or corrupt files using Rikvr Video Repair Software. 

These solutions and fixes can help you effectively fix and prevent video choppiness. Ensuring you enjoy seamless streaming and video playback across various devices.