How to fix Video Playback Errors and Issues on PC

Videos have been an important part of our leisure and work. However, are you a victim of video playback errors and issues on your computer? Are you experiencing a video that is jerky, stuck, flickering, out-of-sync, showing a black screen, or having no sound? Don’t worry. Most time you are able to overcome problems and get your videos running smoothly. In this post, we will guide you through the possible reasons and methods for these errors and issues. Let’s read on!

Why do video playback errors and issues occur?

Before delving into the solutions for video playback problems, you should learn about why they would occur so that you can prevent any similar errors in the future. Here are some common causes:

• Corrupted Video File

This is one of the major reasons for video playback issues. Due to improper downloading methods or some accidents like power outages, the video file may get damaged. Thus when you play it with your media player, you will certainly face an error.

• Lack of Required Codecs

Some videos with a big size need supporting codecs to be compressed into a smaller size so that they can be played on your PC. But if the codecs on your system are incompatible or unsupported, you may be unable to see anything of the video, or sometimes even you cannot hear its sound additionally. 

• Insufficient System Configuration

When you would like to play a video with a high resolution like 4K or 1080P, your computer has to meet the minimum requirements, which are related to the configuration including the graphics card, CPU, and RAM. If your PC fails to satisfy the requirements, the media player cannot function and the video can crash while it is playing.

How to fix video playback errors and issues?

Now that you have known why there can be video playback errors and issues on a computer, this section will provide you with six effective methods to fix them.

Overview of the Six Solutions

To save you time, here is a chart to give you an overview of the following six solutions we will share, in which the methods, tools and problems to be resolved are presented clearly. According to the chart, you can simply try or skip the solutions as per your case.

Number	Method	Tool	Problem to Be Resolved
1	Repair your video files.	VLC Media Player	Your video file is corrupted or damaged.
2	Update your computer.	Windows Update (a built-in feature in the Settings program on Windows)	Your Windows system is outdated.
3	Improve the processor rate on your PC.	Control Panel on Windows	The CPU (central processing unit) of your computer has poor performance.
4	Upgrade your display drivers.	Device Manager on Windows	Your display drivers are obsolete and need to be updated.
5	Run the Windows Troubleshooter program.	Troubleshooting on Windows	You are not sure about the specific problem on your PC and want a reliable tool to help you troubleshoot the video playback.
6	Install supporting video codecs.	Windows Media Player	Your system is short of necessary video codecs.

Solution 1: Repair the Video File with VLC Player

To repair a corrupted video file, the VLC Media Player is a good option. It is a free feature pre-built on many computers and can be used to repair videos by converting them to AVI file format first. If you do not have it, click here to download it. To employ this tool, follow these steps one by one:

1. Open an AVI video file in the VLC Media Player.
2. Click the “Tool” tab and then select “Preference” and “Input & Codecs” successively from the list.
3. Click on “Always Fix” on the left sidebar.

4. Press the “Save” button at the bottom-right corner. Now you can check if your video can play correctly.

Solution 2: Update Your PC

Sometimes bugs can appear on your system when you have not updated your computer for a long time, which finally causes there to be video playback issues. Here are the steps to offer a good environment for your device:

1. Go to Settings by hitting the Windows and I keys (Win + I) on your keyboard.
2. Click “Windows Update” on the left panel.

3. Press the “Check for update” button to verify whether there is an update for your PC or not.

4. If there is an update available, your system will begin downloading automatically.
5. After the update is complete, restart your computer and then try running the problematic video file again.

Solution 3: Improve the Processor Rate

Increasing the processor rate is conducive to enhancing the performance of your CPU, so as to help you fix video playback errors. Here are the steps to conduct this improvement:

1. Open the Start Menu and navigate to “Control Panel” to launch it.
2. Enter “Power” in the search bar at the top right corner to select “Power Options”.

3. Click on the “Edit Power Plan” button.
4. Choose the “Change Advanced Power Settings” option in the new interface.

5. When your screen shows a new window that pops up, double-click on “Processor Power Management” from the list.
6. Click and expand the “Maximum Processor State” option and you will see two options under it. Increase the percentage to 100 in both of these options.
7. Click on “OK” to save and apply the changes and then reboot your computer. After that, open the video that you want to play previously for checks.

Solution 4: Upgrade Your Display Drivers

Obsolete display drivers are a common cause of errors and disruption occurring in videos. If this is your case, you can simply follow the instructions below to update your drivers:

1. Type “Device Manager” in the Start Menu and click on the best match to open the program.

2. Locate “Display Adapters” and expand it.
3. Right-click on the driver under the “Display Adapters” section, which is “Intel(R) HD Graphics 4600” here. Then select the “Update Driver” option from the drop-down menu.

4. Now a new window will show up on your screen, and you can choose to either carry out an automatic search for drivers or browse them from your computer.

5. Next your display driver will be updated, and you can check whether your video playback error is fixed or not after that.

Solution 5: Run Windows Troubleshooter

 Windows Troubleshooters are built-in tools capable of detecting and fixing different types of issues on your PC, so it is suitable for you to resolve problems with video playback. Below are the steps to initiate this feature:

1. Type “troubleshooting” in the search bar and select the first result to run Troubleshooting.
2. Select the “View All” option on the left-hand panel and you will find all the troubleshooting modules.
3. Click on “Video Playback” from the list and then the troubleshooter will run immediately.

4. Follow all the instructions that are prompted on your screen to accomplish the process.

Solution 6: Install the Necessary Video Codecs

In many cases, video playback errors result from the absence of required video codecs. If you receive a notification that indicates the supporting codecs are missing when you are playing a video, you can consider downloading and installing the necessary codec pack on your system by using the Windows Media Player. The steps are as follows:

1. Open your default Windows Media Player.
2. Go to the “Tools” tab and choose “Options”.

3. Click on the “Player” option.
4. Select the “Download codecs automatically” check box and click “OK”. Note that you should keep a stable network connection during the operations.
5. Now run your video file in the player.
6. Then you will get a message to prompt you to install the codecs and please click the “Install” option. After that, follow the instructions to get the supporting codecs.

FAQs

• How do I change the default video player on Windows 10?

To change the default video player, please follow the steps below:

1. Go to Settings and then click “Apps” and “Default apps” successively.
2. In the Default apps window, navigate to “Video player”.
3. Click on the existing video player and select your desired video player from the drop-down list.

• What can I do to fix the video playback issues?

The quickest and most convenient method to fix the video playback issues is to run Windows Troubleshooters. Open the program by searching it in the search box, click “View All” on the left side and then choose “Video Playback” from the list to launch the troubleshooter. Follow the on-screen instructions and you will be able to fix the problems.

Conclusion

It is really annoying and frustrating to encounter video playback errors and issues when you are watching a video. But they are common in our daily lives as well. This post gives an introduction to all the possible reasons that can result in such issues and provides you with six effective solutions to address them with detailed instructions, which do not require any professional skills. Hopefully after reading the passage, you will be able to fix the video playback errors when you meet them. If your trouble still persists, please leave a comment to us and we will give you an answer as soon as possible.