Windows 11 Update Causes 30-Second Delays When Launching VLC 

Credit: AI

A recent update for the Windows 11 operating system has caused unexpected technical issues when launching the VLC media player. Users have begun experiencing a significant delay before media playback begins.

Game designer and programmer Jonathan Blow stated that he switched from VLC to Windows’ built-in Media Player because it had become extremely slow. He also added that “a significant portion of open source software is in a truly deplorable state right now.”

Other comments criticizing VLC have appeared online, so VideoLAN couldn’t ignore the situation. The player’s developer stated that the problem arose after an update to Windows Defender, the built-in security tool in Windows 11, which began interfering with VLC’s plugin cache processing. However, reports from Windows 10 and Windows 11 users experiencing the same issue can be found online.

VLC claims the 33-second playback delay is due to Windows Defender. Interestingly, the criticism of VLC is focused on audio playback, not video, which is what the player is typically associated with. Since the developers cited a cache issue as the cause of the playback slowdown, Blow asked VideoLAN why the player even needs a cache when processing a single MP3 file.

There have been no official fixes for this regression from the operating system developers yet, so users are forced to fix the issue manually.