How to Resolve Black Screen Issue While Playing Videos? – 4 Best Ways

Black screen is one of the most common issues faced while playing videos. It can occur on web browsers, media players, or streaming platforms like YouTube. The error confuses users as the screen turns black, but the audio plays perfectly.

Most of the time, this happens because of video file corruption. Here, we will discuss the various reasons behind this error and provide different methods to resolve the black screen issue.

Common Symptoms to Identify Black Screen Issue Quickly

Below, we have listed different forms of the error you can experience:

• The display window turns black.
• Video freezes on a black frame.
• Audio plays, but video remains black.
• The screen flashes for a few seconds & turns black.
• Black screen with continuous audio while streaming videos.

Why Does A Black Screen Appear During Video Playback?

Knowing the causes is the first step to resolve black screen issue. So, go through the section below to find them:

Manual Methods to Resolve Black Screen Issue [Detailed Steps]

The section provides the manual solutions to fix the video black screen error. Try each method to fix and choose the best one for yourself.

Method 1. Reduce Video Card Hardware Acceleration

In certain cases, conflict between Hardware acceleration and Windows driver can also be the possible reason behind the error. To fix this error, try switching off Hardware acceleration by following the given steps.

Step 1. Right-click on the desktop screen then select Display Settings

Step 2. Under Display settings, go to Advanced display settings.

Step 3. Choose the Troubleshoot option under the Advanced display settings.

Step 4. Select Change Settings and then click on Reduce Hardware Acceleration.

Method 2. Reinstall the Windows Media Player

Sometimes, due to stored cached data in the application, you can get a black screen issue. You can fix this issue by reinstalling the Media player with these steps:

Step 1. Open Control Panel and select Programs and Features option.

Step 2. On the right pane, tap on the ‘Turn Windows features on or off’ option.

Step 3. Under the Windows features dialogue box, select Media Features and unmark Windows Media Player along with any other media players such as VLC Media Play then click OK.

Step 4. This will uninstall all the media player devices. Then reinstall the media player by marking the option Windows Media Player or VLC.

Method 3. Uninstall and Reinstall the System Driver

Updating your system’s driver can help you to resolve the black screen issue. Though it may not always work for users. That’s why it is ideal for users to uninstall drivers and then reinstall them to resolve the issue by going through the following steps.

Note: Always download the latest version of a driver before deleting it from the Device Manager.

Step 1. Access Device Manager from the search box.

Step 2. Open the node for the device driver that you tend to uninstall.

Step 3. Right-click on the specific device driver then select Uninstall.

Step 4. Click OK on the confirmation window.

Step 5. Reinstall the latest version of that driver.

Method 4: Clear Browser Cache and Cookies

The cached files can cause hindrance while playing videos that leads to a black screen error. Follow the given steps to fix black screen when playing YouTube videos.

Step 1. Open Google Chrome and tap on three dots from the top right corner, then proceed with More Tools.

Step 2. Under the More Tools section, click on Clear browsing data.

Step 3. Choose All time range and make sure to mark all the options then hit Clear data.

Step 4. Now, your browser’s cache and cookie files are deleted.

Note: The above steps may differ if your default browser is not Chrome. So, apply the steps accordingly.

What If Video Files Are Corrupted? – Repair Them With Automated Tool

You can fix black screen video issues with the help of manual methods. However, if manual methods don’t work, then your video might be corrupted. In that case, it is advisable to use the professional Recoveryfix Video Repair tool to fix all video-related issues. Not only black screen issue, the tool effectively solves any video blurriness, green screen poor quality pixels, system crash, video playback error code 224003, MP4 errors and much more.

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Let’s Recap

Here, we have mentioned the different solutions to fix black screen when playing videos via manual methods. You can use the detailed and structured approach to restore the video playback. But if the case is related to video corruption, then go with the recommended solution. The tool also allows you to repair corrupt MKV video files and other formats without file restrictions.