Music on VLC constantly lags/buffers while playing games

Question

When I play Call of Duty, I like to play music in the background on the PC. I've been doing this for several years and had no issues, but for the past month now VLC (at some point), lags really bad or even stops playing the music until I quit the game. I've increased the file and network cache size in VLC preferences to 3500ms and the problem persists. I've also tried reinstalling VLC.

No system changes were made on my PC, I'm running 4GB of RAM which copes just fine with both CoD and VLC running concurrently (about 1.9GB gets used), no new applications have been installed on my PC and malware scans with McAfee, Malwarebytes and AVG have not picked up any malware that could be causing interference. All music is stored locally on my PC and not streamed.

What could be the cause for this and what can I do to fix it?

Answer 1

Your PC is getting old to, you know.. I'm 90% sure is a problem with PC, not VLC. Check you computer processes to see what uses memory and processor.

Answer 2

This could be caused by both application using the same API for acceleration and the resource is being consumed by the game, or intermittently running of CPU compute due to the game.

There are a few things to try, each with their own drawbacks.

1. Manually assign VLC's audio output module. Use an output setting other than DirectX audio output, file audio output, dummy audio output, or disable. These may invoke some other resource or playback compatibility issue - it depends on your system configuration and capability.
   • Tools > Preferences > Audio > Output Module
2. Eliminate VLC's post processing, which may reduce audio quality:
   • Tools > Preferences > Show settings: All (Bottom Left)
   • Audio resampler: Disabled
   • Filters: Ensure all are disabled/unchecked
3. Manually change the CPU affinity to ensure VLC is operating on a CPU core unused or lightly used by COD. This may degrade performance of both apps if they need more CPU cores than what is allowed by the affinity restrictions.
   • Ctrl + Alt + Delete > Task Manager > (Expand More details) > Details > Right-click on vlc.exe > Set Affinity > Uncheck , select the two last processors. This restriction may reduce VLC's performance.
   • Optionally, you may also use the steps above on COD and check all but the last two processors. This restriction may impact COD's performance.
4. Increase the prcoessing priority of VLC to one setting higher than COD in the same task manager settings as the affinity. This is more of a last resort as its most likley to decrease performance. It is unecessary and counter-productive to combine this option with manual affinity assignment.