Whether you are streaming person or prefer to indulge in your personal video library curated over the years, customizing video playback settings on your Windows 11 PC can significantly enhance your multimedia experience.
Control Video Playback Settings
The built-in Photos and Media Player apps (as well as the older Movies & TV app) and third-party apps—like Hulu, Netflix, and Vudu—built on the Universal Windows Platform, or UWP, use the video platform built into Windows.
Because of this, Windows 11 offers a few settings that allow you to control how these apps handle video playback. You can change these settings to improve the playback and save network bandwidth.
To access the video playback settings, head to Settings in Windows 11. Click Apps on the left panel, and then click Video playback on the Apps section that opens up on the right side.
There are a couple of options you can toggle on or off based on your preferences. Adjust video based on lighting around me does exactly what it says.
Additionally, the Save network bandwidth by playing video at a lower resolution option will play videos at a lower resolution to help save network bandwidth. This is handy if you are on a metered connection or using your phone’s hotspot while out and about—and, of course, when on a slower internet connection.
While customizing video playback settings can enhance your experience, you may encounter issues such as choppy video playback or performance lag. Toggle the options on and off one by one to fix video stuttering issues.
Configure Battery Options
When you’re watching movies and videos on a laptop or a tablet, especially on battery power, it is imperative to consider any and all battery saving options for video playback.
While you can choose to optimize battery options for video quality (mostly for desktops or when your laptop is plugged in), you can also optimize these options for battery life. In that case, you can specify to not adjust the video based on lighting when running on battery power. Plus, you can play video at a lower resolution to stretch battery life.
Depending on your display and PC configuration, you can also take advantage of High Dynamic Range (HDR) settings to get a brighter and more vibrant picture for supported games, videos, and apps. You can configure these settings under System > Display > HDR.
Fine-tuning video playback settings on Windows is a straightforward yet impactful way to elevate your multimedia experience. Most people don’t bother with these settings at the operating system level while dealing with video players and streaming apps, but adjusting these settings according to your needs can ensure a smoother and more efficient viewing experience.
