Any new solution to the pause/framerate issue?

Plex Players
1

I’ve seen the topic discussed before, but here’s the TL:DR.

In browser windows, if you pause the playback, when you resume, the framerate will drop dramatically, and typically stay that way. The solution for some is to back it up 30seconds or manually set the timestamp, others adjust the playback quality back and forth. For me, I have to stop playback, restart the video, and then manually set the timestamp. Going from 60fps to 10-15 is jarring.

The issue appears to stem from a buffering issue. Where it’s trying to resume immediately and doesn’t have time to grab all of the frames for every second and just have them at a moment’s notice when you hit unpause. This leads me to a few solutions that could be implemented.

  1. Pre-buffer while paused. Youtube does this, and many other streaming services. It’ll load in the next 60 seconds of video into RAM and just wait.

  2. Allow me to set a playback delay when unpausing for buffering. I don’t need it to begin playing the millisecond I hit play, If I could set it to 1.5 seconds of buffer, then get smooth playback, I would.

If there’s any other fixes I could do to make pausing/unpausing more seamless, please let me know. I absolutely will.

2

You’ll need to provide some more specifics here. What is the server and it’s version? What browser(s)? Is this when using the bundled web app (IPaddress:port/web) or app.plex.tv? Can you provide PMS logs after enabled debug logging?

3

I have the same problem, and its happening a lot. I’ve noticed it on HVEC videos (could be anecdotal). Using Firefox. Direct stream. Even changing the Quality doesn’t fix it. Refreshing the page doesn’t fix it. If i kill the stream completely. Hit play and “start at beginning”, then manually skip to where it was, then its fine. Hitting “resume” makes it run at 10fps also.

4

I have the same problem, using Firefox (app.plex.tv) and direct streaming. After video is paused for more than a few minutes, frame rate drops and stays dropped. I’ve been able to replicate it on both of my PCs. Refreshing the page doesn’t fix it. Closing the Plex window and opening a new one doesn’t fix it. Even shutting down Firefox completely, killing the process from task manager, and re-opening Plex doesn’t fix it. What does fix it is going to the Dashboard and selecting “stop playback” for the session, then starting the episode again.

5

I am also seeing this issue. If I pause a video, even for just a moment, when I resume the video, the framerate has plummeted. I have to completely stop playback and refresh the browser page in order to be able to resume at a normal framerate.

Additional Info:
Browser: Librewolf (firefox fork) 151.0-1
Media server version: 1.43.2.10687
Hardware acceleration: Enabled

Edit to add: Just tested in a Chromium browser (MS Edge) and it does not experience the same lowered frame rate after being paused.

Edit again: Tested HEVC vs H.265 and the HEVC showed reduced frame rate after a pause where the H.265 did not. Logs are too large to attach directly here, so I have uploaded them here: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/hsz9kno89fxpr2x8o2036/Plex-Media-Server-Logs_2026-05-20_15-42-52.zip?rlkey=82psf27clwi3j6jvs69sx9op4&st=9u5lox2z&dl=0

6

I have posted a reply containing details of my experience with the lowered frame rate after a pause as well as a link to my logs.

7

Seems like an issue with the browser.

Anyone else observing this issue needs to provide some more information about their system (host OS, CPU, GPU, browser). It may also be helpful to provide a sample file that is manifesting the issue.

Also please do the following;

  1. Confirm server DEBUG logging is enabled, VERBOSE logging is disabled.
    SAVE if changes.
  2. Restart PMS
  3. Give it two minutes to start and stabilize
  4. Start a playback which shows the issue
  5. Let it play for 20 seconds
  6. Force the issue to be observed
  7. Stop the playback
  8. Download the server logs
  9. Attach the logs so I may see them.
8

Yes, I had debug logging enabled (Verbose disabled). This is also true for the logs I provided above. It seems to specifically be related to HEVC files based on my testing.

System details:
OS: Windows 10 (Extended Support enabled)
CPU: AMD Ryzen 5900X
GPU: AMD Radeon 7900XTX
Browser: Librewolf (firefox fork) 151.0-1

Performed the PMS restart, waited several minutes.
Chose an HEVC video file to play, started playback, waited for buffer to fill. Paused.
Maintained pause for 5 minutes.
Resumed playback and witnessed the significantly reduced framerate. Let it play at the reduced framerate as requested.

Server logs too large to attach directly to this message, so here is a dropbox link to the log files:

9

Forum posts are limited to 8MB for attachments, so I have performed the steps requested and attached a fresh set of logs via a dropbox link since the logs are 24MB. The logs from yesterday are still available as well and are debug (non-verbose) logs also.

If these dropbox links are not viable for you or if there is something I need to be doing to get these logs below the 8 MB threshold while still containing the data you need, please let me know.

10

Yes I got your logs, thank you. I was mostly calling for anyone else to provide logs. So far the only common denominator is FireFox. However, you’re running a fork which could be isolated to that fork. Without more data points it’s hard to know what’s happening or why.

11

Gotcha, Both @lisa_c7 and @Kefka900 mentioned using Firefox as well, so I don’t think it is linked to the fork I am using, but maybe to a general Firefox issue.