If you have noticed Kodi running much slower than normal, you may be wondering what is going on and if there’s a fix for it.
There are many reasons why Kodi could run slow, but in this article, I will try to address some of the more common reasons why Kodi may be running so slow and provide fixes for them.
These fixes should improve your Kodi experience and hopefully put an end to all that buffering and stuttering you’ve been experiencing.
In general, Kodi runs slow when the internet bandwidth in your household exceeds the available data capacity from an ISP. The most common cause for Kodi to slow down or stutter is due to internet throttling by ISP providers or too many gadgets are connected to the home internet that does not meet the data capacity demand, forcing other connected devices to begin to slow down or stutter.
The best way to fix Kodi running slow is to reduce data demand from the home network, which is very simple if you know what devices are using your bandwidth and where they may be connected.
Here are some ways you can diagnose the Kodi running slow problem:
#1 Identify How Much Bandwidth Is Available For Kodi To Use?
One of the first things to do is to find out if you have enough bandwidth for Kodi. It may be that your ISP provides 100Mbps but because of other factors, this bandwidth is shared between all the gadgets connected in the house.
If you are unsure how to check your internet data usage, please see one of the tutorials that explain in detail how connected home appliances are affecting your internet data consumption.
Tip: If you are experiencing slow buffering with Kodi addons such as Youtube, Hulu and Netflix then you will most likely achieve fast Kodi video streaming by installing a high-speed home ISP.
While slow buffering on most streaming addons is almost inevitable when it comes to sharing internet bandwidth with other gadgets using the same connection will always require a reliable fast internet.
#2 Identify How Many Appliances And People Are Connected To The Network
When checking why your Kodi may be running slow, you need to find out how many gadgets and humans are connected to your network.
If all the people in a home have a computer and a smartphone each, this means that 8 devices can be on the internet at any one time. 4 of those devices will require a data connection through WiFi and this is where the problem starts.
For example, if you have 4 people sharing internet data through WiFi then that’s already 12 connected devices and this may be why Kodi is running slow.
Bear in mind that even though there are 8 connected gadgets, only 2 of them can be watching videos at any one time so this means that the other 6
So How Do I Fix Kodi Running Slow On My Firestick Or Android Box?
If your Kodi suddenly starts to run slow and you’ve already checked that there is enough bandwidth available for Kodi, then the problem could be one of two things.
Either the router in your home is running outdated router firmware which is causing configuration issues or your FireStick or Android box running Kodi may have been infected by malware. Here are some ways you can try to fix the problem yourself:
Solution 1: Update Your Wireless Router firmware and Settings
A router that is running the old and outdated firmware on top of the default setup may not be able to handle all the bandwidth usage all at once. This can cause slow Kodi video streaming and other internet speeds.
The solution is easy; you just need to upgrade and reconfigure your wireless router or modem settings. If you don’t know how to update an old internet router, you can follow a simple router software update tutorial to fix the problem or take it to the nearest IT specialist.
Solution 2: Check If Your ISP Is Throttling Your Internet Bandwidth
Internet bandwidth throttling is another reason why your Kodi video streaming may be running slow and you will need to call your ISP to fix the problem.
1) From the home screen go to TV Settings . Once there open System Settings which are located on the left hand side of the screen.
2) Click on Expert Mode . This will reveal a list of Settings that can be changed, scroll down and click on Network which is near the bottom.
3) Click on Change Connection Properties then select your current connection type from the dropdown menu.
4) Make sure MTU is set to Automatic and check your UPnP setting to ensure it is enabled.
5) If your ISP support IPv6 make sure this box is checked and if the other above boxes are unchecked , you can leave them that way for Kodi to run better on older router firmware.
6) Now click on Connection status which will reveal your Download and Upload speeds.
7) Now toggle Use default gateway on remote network to Off then try running a Kodi video stream. To revert these changes just click Default gateway on remote network then turn it back On.
If the problem is still there, you may have to contact your ISP about their policies regarding throttling Internet bandwidth.
How to Speed Up Kodi
If your ISP is not throttling your Kodi streaming bandwidth and it’s still slow, then you need to look at other ways to speed up Kodi.
Enter the following command in the URL bar of an add-on browser: http://fusion.tvaddons.co/ or from within a Kodi add-on screen use the addons > install from repository > TVADDONS.AG Add-on Repository > Program Add-ons > Indigo and select Speed up Kodi .
When the warning box pops up, click Continue at the top right then choose a strength level. Click OK to complete the process or Cancel if you change your mind. You can speed up Kodi on FireStick in the same way.
Note: This command was written to speed up Kodi on older versions of Kodi but should also work for Kodi Krypton 17.3 and other later versions of Kodi Krypton. For Kodi on FireStick, you can use this feature but since it will close open add-ons, it’s best to use it on a PC.
How to Fix MMS Not Downloading Error
MMS not downloading error is a common problem on Kodi and if you have recently updated from one version of Kodi to another then MMS add-ons may have been removed or deleted.
The solution is easy; Just reinstall the add-on from a repository which housed it previously. If you still do not have your addon repositories after updating Kodi, then you can try to download the MMS add-on zip file from a third party source.
Sometimes, your Kodi may not entirely slow down, instead, it keeps buffering intemintently.
Why is My Kodi Buffering?
There are a number of reasons why Kodi sticks at buffering sometimes. One is because your internet connection cannot handle the bandwidth used by Kodi, try using a faster DNS to help with this problem.
This error can also occur if you have many add-ons installed in Kodi or have multiple Kodi devices connected to one account. If you don’ tt have a problem sharing subscription add-ons, try to limit the number of devices you have registered to your account.
The best solution is to ensure you have a reliable high speed internet connection then limit the number of add-ons that are installed into Kodi at any given time. You can also disable add-ons if they are redundant or not used.
Why is Kodi Buffering on Android?
There is a good chance that your mobile device is limiting the bandwidth used by Kodi and this will happen when you set Kodi to use High Quality video and High bandwidth in System Settings > Player settings . If you want to keep these settings, ensure all add-ons are uninstalled from your mobile
How to speed up your Kodi installation
If you are installing your Kodi on a disk drive, you can try to move the new Kodi installation closer to your internet router. We have written an article on how to speed up Kodi using any of these methods listed below
How to Speed Up Kodi on Android
If you are running Kodi on Android, then there are some built-in features that help improve streaming video by increasing the playback speed and reducing battery usage.
How to Install Kodi on Android TV Box
Toinstall Kodi on your Android TV Box, follow the same process as you would to install Kodi on Android.First, you need to enable the installation of Kodi from unknown sources, then install the APK file. Once done, the TV box will launch a setup wizard
How to Install Kodi to a Fire Stick or Fire TV
Installing Kodi on an Amazon Firestick is easy and only takes a few minutes. Follow our guide section for instructions. The first step is to install Kodi from the Amazon app store, this will also download an APK file that you can later use to install Kodi . Follow our guide section for instructions.
How to Improve Video Playback on Fire TV and Kindle Fire
If you are using an Amazon Firestick, then there is a good chance that playback problems will occur because your device does not offer the hardware to decode videos like XVID or DIVX. To fix this, try to install Kodi Krypton 17.3 or later, it will automatically enable most codecs needed by Kodi.
Speed up Older Kodi Versions
If your version of XBMC /Kodi is older than Krypton 17.3 then you can improve the speed of streaming videos by installing a number of add-ons from a third
How to Speed Up Kodi on FireStick
Amazon FireStick runs a modified version of Kodi so there is not much you can do to speed up your Amazon FireStick besides checking for firmware updates and switching the video output mode.
You can speed up your Kodi installation by following this simple guide:
Open System > Add-ons and choose ‘Enabled add-on’ s’
and choose to Select the VideoPlayer InputStream section then right-click and select Information. A link will be provided that takes you to a YouTube video which offers an easy way to speed up streaming video on Kodi.
Why Is Kodi Buffering On my Firestick?
If your FireStick is lagging, freezing or buffering , then you need to follow the steps we have listed in this article that will help you fix your FireStick lag and protect it from future lags.
How to Install Kodi on FireStick
If you want to improve the speed of your FireStick, then we recommend that you use a VPN because it will allow you to unlock geo-restricted content and unblock addons that may be restricted in your country. The best thing about using a VPN is that it works on almost all devices including Amazon FireStick.
Common Crashing Issues with Kodi
Kodi crashing is also another issue that users encounter, the most common reason for these crashes is due to memory problems or lack of memory available. The Kodi application will continuously attempt to allocate more memory but if it cannot, then you are likely to experience a crash that kills Kodi.
To resolve this problem, simply close down all applications that are running in the background then try restarting Kodi and see if that resolves your problem.
If it doesn’t, then try restarting your device and if the problem cannot be resolved even after restarting Kodi and your system, then we recommend users to restore their Kodi installation to default settings.
The other common problem with Kodi is the black screen. This is when Kodi fails to start then you will see a blank screen when launching Kodi, this problem happens because Kodi is not configured properly or there are missing files from your installation.
How do you Fix a Kodi Black Screen?
Fixing the Blackscreen issue in Kodi involves a few steps. The first thing you will need to do is uninstall Kodi and delete any trace of it from your device then download the latest version and reinstall Kodi.
If Kodi opens without any issues except for a black screen, then you need to check whether your video output settings are configured correctly in the System > Video output menu.
The last thing you will need to do is delete any Kodi configurations or advancedsettings.xml file (if you already have one) and reinstall the Kodi application again, these steps should resolve your blackscreen problem.
Why Does my WiFi Connection Keep Dropping When Using Kodi?
If your wireless connection keeps dropping when using Kodi, then you need to ensure that your wireless router is configured correctly and also perform regular speed tests using a service like Speedtest. If you think your wireless connection can handle streaming video and it’s not your ISP , then follow the steps below:
How to fix Kodi not Connecting with WiFi?
The first step you will need to do is make sure you are using the latest version of Kodi and your wireless driver is up to date.
Another thing you need to do is check whether your ISP has blocked multicast in your area, if it has then try using a VPN to bypass this restriction. You can also set up a static IP address on the device that you are streaming from and if none of these can help, then your only option is to switch to a wired connection.
Why Does my Kodi Keep Crashing when Streaming Videos?
This problem arises when there are too many addons or when the add-on does not work correctly. There are various reasons why addons fail such as outdated repositories with broken addons or geo-restrictions, but you can easily fix this by using a VPN to bypass restrictions.
Kodi has become the go-to platform for streaming online content, however, many users are complaining about performance issues that cause Kodi slow , laggy and crash frequently. If you are one of these users who are experiencing these problems, you can now fix these issues by following the steps below.
Before I begin the steps to resolve Kodi slow, laggy and crash issue, I would like to give you a word of caution: Installing and using unofficial add-ons may be against your ISP agreement and could possibly expose your online identity if something goes wrong. Therefore, it is highly advisable that you only use the official add-ons.
The first thing you will need to do, if Kodi keeps crashing when streaming videos, is to flush the DNS cache by right-clicking on your start menu on Windows laptop, choose command prompt and enter” ipconfig /flushdns” and press enter to flush your DNS cache. If flushing the DNS cache does not work, it is best to uninstall Kodi and reinstall the latest version.
If you find that your device is still slow after performing the steps above, then you will need to check whether there are too many addons running at startup. To do this go to: System > Add-Ons > Enabled Add-Ons then select “Show all” and disable the addons that you are not using.
The final step you will need to do is clean your cache by going to: System > Cache Management. If cleaning your cache does not resolve the issue , then reset Kodi by going to: System > Applications > Manage Installed Applications then choose Kodi, using the “Force Close” option and finally delete the addons you do not use.
Overall, If you find that Kodi is buffering frequently, then your first step will be to check whether your ISP is throttling your network speed. If your ISP is throttling your network speed, then you must either switch to a wired connection or use a VPN to access the internet.
Kodi running slow on Nvidia shield
Nvidia shield is also known to cause Kodi to run slow because of the way it decodes 1080p video. If you want to fix this problem follow these steps:
1) Open Kodi and enter “System” then select “Video” from the list.
2) In the right side of the screen, scroll down to “Adjust display refresh rate”.
3) By default it should be set to “Automatic”, change this to match your monitor’s frequency, i.e., you are using a 60HZ TV then set it to 60HZ.