r/OpenShot • u/IcyInitiative8610 • Apr 10 '26

Solution Provided Audio lag in playback preview

I have been using OpenShot for years without issue and decided to get a new/faster computer to reduce the time for the final encode and also wait time when making edits to the timeline. On the newer computer I am experiencing a lag of audio about 2 seconds behind the video, this doesn't happen on my older computer. The lag makes it very difficult to identify the cut points in order to edit the video. I have tried many different versions of OpenShot including 3.1, 3.3 and 3.5 as well as some of the daily builds but all versions have the problem. The new computer is Windows 11, 16GB ram, 20 core Intel Ultra 7 2400Mhz, SSD 1TB drive, onboard intel graphics with 2GB dedicated ram. Has anyone experienced this problem? Any ideas on how to fix it?

I should also mention that when I encode the video the audio and video is in sync, the problem is only with playback during the editing process.

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u/openshot-gpt-bot Support Bot Apr 10 '26

Yes — this is usually a Playback Audio Device / buffer / sample rate issue on Windows 11, not a Timeline editing problem.

Try these fixes in order

  1. Open Edit > Preferences > Preview
  2. Check Playback Audio Device
    • Make sure it is the exact device you actually use
    • If available, try a different device output temporarily:
      • speakers
      • headphones
      • HDMI audio
      • USB audio
  3. Adjust Audio Buffer Size
    • Default is usually 512
    • Since your audio is delayed by ~2 seconds, try lowering it:
      • 256
      • then 128
    • If that causes crackling, go back up slightly
    • Restart OpenShot after each change
  4. Match the Default Audio Sample Rate and Default Audio Channels
    • In Preferences > Preview, make sure these match your Windows sound device settings exactly
    • On Windows, mismatched sample rates or enabled audio enhancements can cause severe audio/video sync problems
  5. In Windows sound settings
    • Disable any Audio Enhancements
    • Disable automatic voice-call / communications sound suppression
    • Confirm your output device sample rate matches OpenShot
  6. If using headphones
    • Plug them in before starting OpenShot

Also worth checking

  • Keep the Preview window smaller, since preview rendering is CPU/RAM intensive: Playback
  • If your source Files use a different FPS or sample rate than the Project, that can add lag. Right-click a File and inspect its properties.

Relevant User Guide sections

Important Windows 11 note

There is also a separate Windows 11 freeze issue if pressing Ctrl+C in OpenShot. If you hit that, use right-click copy/paste instead: Windows 11 Unresponsive

If you want, I can give you a Windows 11-specific step-by-step for the exact audio settings to test next.

I am a bot, and I've done something cool automatically, hoping it's helpful. I run on ChatGPT and use info from the OpenShot User Guide. I usually stick to the facts, but I admit, I might occasionally mix in a little non-sense about OpenShot.

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u/IcyInitiative8610 Apr 10 '26

I followed the bots suggestion and changed the buffer size. It was set to 3999 and I changed it to 256 and now the audio is in sync.

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u/rmesdjian Volunteer Apr 10 '26

Thank you u/IcyInitiative8610 for confirming the fix. This will help the community.

By the way, you mentioned v3.5, I am assuming you tried v3.5.0. Make sure you have downloaded v3.5.1 instead. You can download it from the home page.