How to fix Microsoft Teams lagging or freezing during video calls

Performance & Troubleshooting KB-183

Summary

This guide helps you troubleshoot and resolve: How to fix Microsoft Teams lagging or freezing during video calls. Follow the steps below to fix the issue.

Quick Tip: Need immediate assistance? 💻 Open a Ticket

Common Causes

Experiencing lag or freezing during Microsoft Teams video calls can disrupt your productivity and professional image. This issue is typically caused by a combination of high CPU usage, outdated application cache, or insufficient network bandwidth. By following the steps below, you can optimise your environment and ensure a smoother communication experience.

Quick Fix Steps

Before diving into deeper technical changes, try these immediate solutions to resolve temporary glitches:

Restart the Application: Fully quit Teams (right-click the icon in the system tray and select Quit) and relaunch it.
Check Your Connection: Ensure you are using a wired Ethernet connection if possible. If on Wi-Fi, move closer to your router.
Close Background Apps: Shut down resource-heavy applications like Chrome tabs, Spotify, or large Excel files. If your computer is running slow in general, this will directly impact Teams performance.
Update Teams: Click the three dots (...) next to your profile picture and select Check for updates.

Detailed Instructions

Disable Hardware Acceleration

Hardware acceleration offloads some processing to your GPU. While usually helpful, it can cause freezing on certain hardware configurations or outdated drivers.

Open Microsoft Teams.
Click on the three dots (...) next to your profile picture and select Settings.
Under the General tab, scroll down to the Application section.
Tick the box for Disable GPU hardware acceleration.
Restart Teams for the changes to take effect.

Clear the Microsoft Teams Cache

Over time, the Teams cache can become corrupted, leading to lag, synchronisation issues, or the app freezing or crashing during calls.

Note: Clearing the cache will not delete your chats or files, but you may need to sign back into your account.

For Windows:

Fully close Teams (ensure it is not running in the background).
Press Windows Key + R on your keyboard to open the Run dialog.
Type %appdata%\Microsoft\Teams and press Enter.
Select all files and folders within this directory and delete them.
Restart Teams.

For macOS:

Quit Teams completely.
Open Finder and select Go > Go to Folder... from the top menu.
Enter ~/Library/Application Support/Microsoft/Teams and press Enter.
Delete the contents of this folder.
Restart Teams.

Troubleshooting Network & Hardware

Optimising Video Settings

If your internet connection is unstable, reducing the load on your bandwidth can stop the freezing.

Turn off your incoming video: If you are struggling to hear others, click More during a call and select Turn off incoming video. This prioritises audio quality.
Avoid Virtual Backgrounds: Blur or custom backgrounds require extra CPU power. Try switching to None to see if performance improves.

Checking for System Stability

If Teams is freezing alongside other applications, there may be a deeper system issue. If you experience a total system crash or a Blue Screen of Death (BSOD), the issue is likely driver-related rather than app-specific.

If you find that your browser is not loading pages or other cloud services are lagging, the issue is likely your local network or ISP rather than the Teams application.

If these steps do not resolve the lagging or freezing, please Open a Ticket so our technical team can analyse your system logs and network configuration.

Still Having Issues?

Need more help? If the issue persists after trying these steps, please open a support ticket and our team will assist you.

💻 Open a Ticket