Solved: Why Is My Discord Suddenly Lagging – Easy Fix

Discord gives you the best experience with voice-over IP, especially if you are playing online games with your friends.

You can communicate with your family and friends through Discord by sending messages and making voice and video calls. You can also create separate servers with private channels to communicate with one another in private. These features make Discord a top VoIP app.

Despite all these features, a few users face issues when their Discord suddenly starts lagging. Why it happens and how you can resolve it. If you are one of these users, here is a thorough guide to resolving this sudden lagging issue in Discord. So stay tuned to learn more.

How To Fix Discord Suddenly Lagging Issue?

1. Check Discord Server Status

Always check the Discord server status by visiting the official Discord Status website. Discord provides the real-time status of their APIs, notifications, and other online servers to provide the best user experience. That is why you always have to check the status before starting any troubleshooting. 

If you find any servers down, you must be patient until the server recovers and starts functioning again. It could be due to any potential network lag or traffic to the application. 

2. Check Your Network Connection

The second most important thing is your internet connection. Your Internet connection determines the speed of your chats, video and voice chats, screen sharing, and streaming. You will face Discord lagging issues if you don’t have a reliable internet connection with fast speed. 

If you have a high internet connection but a slow response, it means more traffic or users use the same connection. We recommend you restart your internet device to remove traffic load and accumulated cache. If you have unrecognizable traffic, it is highly recommended that you change the password of your router.

3. Close Unnecessary Background Processes

Background apps can slow down Discord by using up system resources like CPU, memory, and network bandwidth. It can make Discord less smooth to use. A background program using too many system resources can slow down other programs, like Discord.

Antivirus software, browser add-ons, game launchers, media players, and other digital communication programs are examples of applications that consume the most system resources. These apps often conflict with Discord, causing lagging issues.

4. Turn To High-Performance Power Settings

Using standard or power saver mode reduces the power allocation to components, and as a result, they start underperforming. Changing the power settings on your computer to “high performance” may help lower lag when using Discord. When your computer is set to “high performance mode,” it gives programs and tasks more resources so that they can run more quickly.

So, to do that, right-click on the battery icon in the laptop or type “Power options” in the Windows start menu on your PC to open power adjustment settings. Once you are in the settings, select the “Change plan settings” option. 

Now select “Change advanced power settings” to open the major settings. Here, if the power settings are at “Balanced” or “Standard,” then change them to “High-performance.”

5. Enable Reduce Motion Settings on Discord

This setting will reduce the number of images and movements in the Discord app, which can help devices with less processing power run better. Enabling the “Reduce Motion” setting on Discord might help with lagging. This option is best if you have a low-end PC with limited resources.

To enable the reduced motion settings, open Discord and then go to settings by pressing the gear icon. Once in the settings, select “Appearance.” Here, scroll down to find the “Reduce Motion” settings. Enable all these settings.

6. Disable or Enable Hardware Acceleration

Hardware acceleration is a feature that most graphics and video-related programs have. It allows them to use the power of the computer’s hardware, like the GPU, to make the program run faster. It can make certain tasks go faster and free up the CPU to do other things.

There are two possibilities for deciding whether to enable or disable the hardware acceleration. If you have high-end hardware on your PC, it is best to enable the hardware acceleration option in Discord to give maximum resources and void the lagging issue. 

If you have a low-end PC with limited hardware resources, you must disable the hardware acceleration to limit the hardware resources. So, to navigate to the hardware acceleration option in Discord, open Discord and then go to settings. 

In the settings, go to “Advanced” settings from the left-hand side panel. Once you are in the advanced settings, you will see the “Hardware acceleration” option, probably at the second number. Here, you can enable or disable it. 

7. Enable Quality of Service

By turning on the Quality of Service (QoS) settings, you might be able to fix the lag or delay problems on Discord. With QoS settings, you can ensure that important data, like voice or video calls, gets more attention than less important traffic, like downloading files or viewing the web.

To enable the quality of service, go to Discord settings and then navigate to the “Voice & Video” option. Now scroll down until you see “Quality of service high packet priority.” Now enable the option. 

8. Disable OpenH264 Video Codec

OpenH264 is a video codec that Cisco made. Some apps use it to encode and decode video. If you’re having trouble with lag when using an app that uses OpenH264, turning it off may help fix the problem. Discord also uses this codec, which you can disable in the settings.

To disable it, open settings and click “Voice & Video.” Here you will find the “OpenH264 Video Codec” settings. Just disable the OpenH264 video codec settings. It will resolve your Discord lagging issues, especially when you are streaming. 

9. Clear Discord Cache

If your Discord app is running slowly, you might be able to fix the problem by clearing the app’s cache. It will eliminate any broken or old files that might be slowing the app down. When Discord is used for long periods, the app’s cache can get full of a lot of data, slowing it down.

Clearing the cache is like starting over, and it makes Discord rebuild its cache with new information. It can free up space, reduce lag, and fix other problems that may be slowing down the app.

To clear the cache, open “Run,” type “%appdata%, and press enter. Here you will find the Discord folder. Open it and then navigate to the cache folders. Open each folder individually and delete all files within them. 

10. Keep Your Video & Audio Drivers Updated

Keeping your video and audio drivers up-to-date can help fix system lag by making sure that your hardware is running with the latest and most stable drivers. Drivers are the pieces of software that allow your computer’s operating system to talk to your computer’s hardware devices, like your video and audio devices.

When you update your video and audio drivers, you can expect better speed, stability, and compatibility with the newest software and games. It can help fix problems like lagging and other issues you might be having with your video and music playback.

You can check the video and audio drivers in the device manager. Right-click on the Windows start menu and then open “Device Manager.” Here, select sound input/output and then click update. Similarly, open the display, select the GPU, and click Update.

11. Update Discord

When Discord is updated, bugs are often fixed, which can fix problems that cause lag. By updating to the most recent version of Discord, you might be able to fix any known problems causing lag.

Updates to Discord may also include changes that make the app run more quickly and reduce lagging. Changes to the app’s code or optimizations that help it run better could be part of these changes.

12. Disable VPN Connection

If you’re having trouble with lag in Discord, turning off your VPN link might help. Using a VPN can increase network latency and slow down network performance. When you use a VPN, all of your internet data goes through a server that might be far from where you are. 

It can slow down the transfer of data, leading to higher lag and possible packet loss. Also, VPNs can add extra work to your internet link, slowing it down even more.

Discord is a platform for real-time conversation that needs low latency to work well. Any delays or problems with the network can cause lag, making it hard for you to talk to other people in real time. By turning off your VPN, you may be able to reduce latency and improve network speed, which can help stop Discord from lagging.

13. Update Windows and Optional Drivers

Updating Windows and installing extra drivers could stop Discord from lagging by ensuring that your computer is running the most up-to-date software and drivers that are compatible with the application.

Discord is a platform for real-time conversation that works best with a stable internet connection and a well-tuned computer. If your Windows operating system or drivers are outdated, Discord might not work right, and you might experience lag, freezing, or other problems.

Updating Windows ensures your computer has the latest security updates, bug fixes, and speed improvements. Open the Windows start menu, type “Windows update,” and open the option. Update Windows if it requires an update. Then open “View optional updates,” and here, update the driver related to audio and video.

Why Does Discord Screen Keep Cutting Out?

Discord is a popular communication platform allowing users to voice and text chat over the internet. However, some users have reported that their Discord screen keeps cutting out, which can be frustrating and disruptive to communication. 

There can be several reasons for this, so it’s essential to understand the potential causes and how to troubleshoot the issue. For communication to go smoothly, Discord needs a stable internet link. Your Discord screen can cut out if your internet link is weak or unstable. 

Try resetting your router, moving closer to it, or connecting your computer to the internet with an ethernet cable instead of Wi-Fi to fix this problem. When too many people use the same Discord server at the same time, the server can get too busy, and the screen can go blank. Try moving to a different server or waiting until the traffic dies down to fix this problem.

When too many people use the same Discord server at the same time, the server can get too busy, and the screen can go blank. Try moving to a different server or waiting until the traffic dies down to fix this problem.

Conclusion

Discord is a great way for friends, family, and coworkers to talk to each other. But many people have trouble slowing down when they use it. Most of the time, this is because of a slow or unstable internet link, too many people using the same Discord server, or old drivers.

To fix these problems, you need to check the status of the Discord server, make sure you have a good internet connection, close any background processes you don’t need, switch to high-performance power settings, turn on reduce motion settings, turn on quality of service, turn off or turn on hardware acceleration, clear the Discord cache, update the video and audio drivers, turn off the VPN connection, and update Windows and any other drivers you want to use. 

All these solutions are proven to work. Moreover, if you are still facing the same issue, you need to uninstall and then reinstall Discord. It will restore the settings and bring Discord to default.