Video Repair

8 Methods to Play 4K Ultra HD Video in VLC Player

Written By Sumona Chatterjee
Updated on 4 Jun, 2024
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Summary: Are your 4K videos lagging, stuttering, or not playing at all in VLC Media Player? Here are the various methods to make your 4K ultra HD videos play smoothly in VLC Media Player. This post also shares how Stellar Repair for Video can repair 4K videos if they turn corrupt and don’t play in any media player including VLC.

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Recording high-definition 4K videos is the new norm. You have all the latest cameras — DSLRs, action cameras, drone cameras or even mobile phones — supporting 4K resolution.

The 4K UHD video content is gradually making inroads into TV channels and streaming services such as Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Sling TV, and Hulu etc.

In such a scenario, you would want your highly compatible and thus favorite VLC Player to play all your 4K movies and videos. However, several VLC users complain that they cannot play 4K ultra HD videos in the media player, with lagging and stuttering reported as common issues.

So here, we bring the various methods you can use to fix VLC 4K lag and play high definition videos in the media player.

Methods to play 4K ultra HD videos in VLC Media Player

Update VLC Media player
Increase Cache Value
Change Video Output Settings
Disable Hardware-accelerated Decoding
Change ‘Skip H.264 in-loop Deblocking Filter’ Setting
Update Graphics Card Drivers
Convert to compress 4K UHD videos
Repair corrupt 4K UHD videos

1. Update VLC Media player

The VLC Media Player, in its latest version 3.0, comes with better support and capabilities for playing 4K UHD videos. Therefore, the first step to fix VLC 4K media playability issues is to download the latest version of VLC 3.0 Media Player and try it out to watch high-definition videos without any disturbance.

2. Increase Cache Value

This method works when your 4K UHD videos stutter or lag in VLC Media Player. Try increasing the Cache Values in the software settings.

Note – If you do not find Cache option in your VLC Player, update it.

Steps to increase Cache Value in VLC Media Player:

Open Tools > Preferences
In Show settings,select the All option

In Advanced settings, click Input / Codecs
Under the Advanced heading, change the value of File caching (ms) from 300 to a higher value like 10,000 or 20,000.

Tip – you can also change Network caching (ms) and Disc caching (ms) to higher values and check which one setting works best to fix 4K videos issues.

3. Change Video Output Settings

For many users, switching the video output to DirectX DirectDraw or OpenGL makes the 4K HD videos playable in VLC Media Player.

Steps to change Video Output settings in VLC Player:

Click on Tools > Preferences> Video
Under Video Settingsin Output, change Automatic to DirectX (DirectDraw) video output. You can also try OpenGL.
Click Save

4. Disable Hardware-accelerated Decoding

With hardware accelerated decoding, the task of playing certain videos (usually H.264 MP4 videos) is taken off from CPU and handed over to GPU of your computer. VLC Media Player can use computer’s GPU to accelerate decoding of some type of video codec streams. If you are facing video problem in playing any 4k video file in VLC, try once by disabling the hardware-accelerated decoding.

Steps to disable hardware-accelerated decoding:

Open VLC Media Player.
Click on Tool > Preference>Input /
Click on box across the Hardware-accelerated Decoding option and choose Disable.

Click Save Next restart VLC Player and play 4K video.

5. Change ‘Skip H.264 in-loop Deblocking Filter’ Setting

One way to fix video lagging while playing high-definition video files in VLC is by changing ‘skip h.264 in-loop deblocking filter’ setting to ‘All’. Although this will lower the video quality but make the playback smooth.

Steps to change ‘skip h.264 in-loop deblocking filter’:

Open VLC Media Player.
Click Tool > Preference>Input / Codecs.
Go to Skip H.264 in-loop deblocking filter option, and change it to All.

Click Save. Restart VLC player to play 4K video again.

6. Update Graphics Card Drivers

You can update graphics card drivers by using Windows Update feature. Simply go to Start menu. Click on Settings > Update and Security and click Check for Updates button. This will automatically perform regular Windows Updates and also check for new drivers.

You can directly update drivers by visiting the manufacturer’s website and follow the graphic card driver update guide. For instance, Nvidia users can refer Nvidia Update from here.

7. Convert to compress 4K UHD videos

Even when your computer meets the intensive graphics and processor requirement, large-sized 4K videos may not play in VLC. You can compress your videos to a smaller size with the help of online video compressor tools.

These tools can convert and compress 4K UHD videos like H.264 MP4, MOV, AVI, etc. to HD format for smooth playback on VLC Player.

8. Repair corrupt 4K UHD videos

None of the above methods worked?

Then your videos might have gone corrupted. To rule out the video damage or corruption issue, try to play them in another supporting media player like 5KPlayer or DivX Player. If they still do not play, then you need to repair your 4K UHD videos with a secure video repair tool such as Stellar Repair for Video.

Watch the Video on “How to Repair a Corrupt Videos” with Stellar Repair for Video

Steps to repair 4K HD videos not playing in VLC Media Player:

Download Stellar Repair for Videoon your Mac or Windows system.
Click on Add File to add problem video file.
Click on Repair.
Preview and click on Save Repaired Files.

The software can easily repair high-definition 4K video files that got corrupt during any of the several stages of video production namely shoot, file transfer, editing, converting or processing of videos etc.

It is a widely used video repair software, which has up to 30% faster repair speed compared to other repair programs. Once repaired, you can seamlessly play your 4K video in VLC Media Player.

To Sum Up

You love VLC as a free and open source Media Player. However, the player might annoy you when it comes to watching 4K ultra HD videos and movies.

Rather than half-heartedly switching over to a new media player, try out the above methods and play your 4K videos smoothly in your all-time favorite VLC Media Player.

Also read

How to Repair Corrupt MP4 and MOV File using VLC

How to Fix Video Lag, Stutter or Glitches?

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About The Author

Sumona Chatterjee

Sumona is a tech blogger, avid photographer, & technogeek with vast experience in writing about media file recovery tips and tutorials. She has over 10 years of experience in media file recovery/media file repair technology. She is passionate about Photography, Creative Designing, Music, and Exploring lesser-known destinations.

53 comments

Anderson says:

November 15, 2020 at 1:53 am

Hi Sumona,
The interface of my VLC(April 2020) is so different from yours, maybe because mine is mac version? My computer had a lot of lag with VLC playing 4K video from my new FujiXt4…

Reply
1. Sumona Chatterjee says:
  
  November 26, 2020 at 11:57 am
  
  Hi Anderson, You can try to follow the methods we described in our blog. In case, none of the above methods work, your videos might have gone corrupt. Use our software to repair your 4K UHD videos.
  
  Reply
amit says:

November 20, 2019 at 4:38 am

4k video is playing smoothly but audio is not. plz resolve this problem

Reply
1. Sumona Chatterjee says:
  
  November 21, 2019 at 4:37 am
  
  Hi Amit,
  
  This issue comes when audio not syncs with the video and playing error loading media files. The easy way you can try our software demo version and see the preview of a repaired video file. For more information, you can contact our support team through email support[@]stellarinfo.com or call at +1-877-778-6087.
  
  Reply
Bojan Jovanovic says:

September 30, 2019 at 11:43 am

Hello Sumona,

Thanks for the useful info you shared with us. I have a few questions related to the possibilities of VLC player to play uncompressed video streams. Namely, I have an IMX253 image sensor from Sony that can give me uncompressed 4K image stream in 32-bit RGB format. The frame rate would be around 10-15fps. Is it possible to play that stream with VLC player? If impossible, would you advice me on which pixel format would be the best for VLC player?

Thanks in advance for your time and effort!
Sincerely,
Bojan.

Reply
1. Sumona Chatterjee says:
  
  October 1, 2019 at 6:17 am
  
  Hi Bojan, IMX253 brings a higher 12.37 Megapixel resolution to improve measurement accuracy for all types of inspection. Yes, you can play with VLC player. If any error please read the ways as we mentioned our blog or you can use our software to repair corrupt video files. Thanks!
  
  Reply
nazim says:

September 6, 2019 at 3:29 pm

4k plays fine ,but HDR is washedout , gpu is 1050ti with latest hdr tv any solution

Reply
1. Sumona Chatterjee says:
  
  September 9, 2019 at 2:37 am
  
  Hi Nazim, We would like to inform you that our software works on “what you see is what you can repair”. That means the files will be repaired in the same manner as you were able to see them in the preview window after the scanning is complete. More information you can contact our support through email support [@]stellarinfo.com or call +1-877-778-6087. Thanks!
  
  Reply
mohdsharif says:

September 5, 2019 at 8:42 pm

hello Sumona Chatterjee thank u for your help. i don’t know where is GPU accelerated decoding i went through menu but nothing pl help to find that my vlc 3.0.8.

Reply
1. Sumona Chatterjee says:
  
  September 6, 2019 at 2:42 am
  
  Hi Modhsharif, Please update your OS drivers or VLC player then Open VLC media player on Tools> preferences or press Ctrl-P to open settings window of the program. If you are using all settings interface select Input/codecs>Video Codecs>FFmpeg and make sure that hardware decoding is set to automatic instead to enable acceleration.
  
  Reply
Jim Nielsen says:

August 13, 2019 at 2:15 pm

Nice guide except i dont have all the menus in 3.07 which Means i pretty much cant do any of this….IE i cant select hardware acceleration as i only have 2 choices,: Automatic or deactivate

Reply
1. Sumona Chatterjee says:
  
  August 14, 2019 at 2:48 am
  
  Hi Jim, Thanks for your appreciation, Please use under menus preferences > input & Codecs Settings> Use GPU accelerated decoding and Set the video quality 6. This allows hardware decoding when available. More information you can contact our support team through email support[@]stellarinfo.com or call +1-877-778-6087.
  
  Reply
Pablo Bernardo says:

July 9, 2019 at 10:34 am

It works! I had with the same problem and I used steps 4 as you given the mentioned blog. Thank you very much!

Reply
1. Sumona Chatterjee says:
  
  July 10, 2019 at 2:45 am
  
  Hi Pablo, We really appreciate sharing your feedback with us!
  
  Reply
Yordan Yordanov says:

July 8, 2019 at 8:15 pm

Adjusting the file caching to 10000 ms worked just fine for me – thank you very much! 🙂

System: Intel Core i7-9700K, 32 GB RAM, nVidia GeForce 1660, VLC 3.0.7.1

Reply
1. Sumona Chatterjee says:
  
  July 9, 2019 at 2:17 am
  
  Glad you found it helpful, Yordan! More is on the way!
  
  Reply
Andrea Trasatti says:

June 27, 2019 at 10:13 am

I deleted some .mov video files by mistake and I used your recovery program after recovery the recovered files wouldn’t play. Any help would be appreciated!

Reply
1. Sumona Chatterjee says:
  
  June 28, 2019 at 10:31 am
  
  Hi Andrea, If the recovered file has an issue. It means these files severely damaged or corrupted. I suggest you can try the advanced repair option in our software. The software allows you to repair it by adding a Sample File to it.
  
  Reply
gregory battaglia says:

May 27, 2019 at 12:22 am

I’m glad I found this website as you all seem so expert with VLC Media Player. I don’t yet have my new desktop but I will want to use it with a Windows player that plays 2K Blu-Ray movie discs and which will allow me slow motion and zoom in control of those 2K BDs, not just DVDs. I would output the video via HDMI to my Sony OLED TV. The audio will be fed to a standalone stereo or multichannel DAC.

Cyberlink support said their player will allow me to have 8 step speed control but it doesn’t allow zoom in control.

Naturally, I prefer a player that has both features.

If you know if VLC Media player or another player (s) that has both zoom and slow motion control enabled when playing BDs please let me know.

Thank you.

Reply
1. Sumona Chatterjee says:
  
  May 27, 2019 at 2:59 am
  
  Hi Gregory, Please follow the steps on VLC:
  
  1. VLC Menu bar Go-to Playback>Speed and Select Speed from options Faster, Faster
  (fine), Normal Speed, Slower(fine), Slower.
  
  2. Go-to Tools Menu And Click on Input/Codecs found once you open Advanced Preference for the player.
  3. Under Playback control, you will find Playback speed. Input a value up to two decimal places.
  4. Save and Play again.
  
  In case you have Still had an issue, please contact our support through support[@]stellarinfo.com or call +1-877-778-6087.
  
  Reply