Video playback lag with Pi 4B

Hello,
I am running a local piSignage Server with three players connected.
As players I am using the Raspberry Pi 4B.
I am having problems with laggy video playback. This is the case with 4K and 1080p footage. I have tried the default player as well as the VLC player.
I am playing the videos with letterboxed mode as to avoid stretching.
As the problem persists with all the players, I was wondering whether the problem could be due to the input format.
What formats should I supply the media in?
Does anyone have any other ideas what I could test?
The players are running the most recent firmware.

Thanks in advance for any help.

Santhosh

January 13, 2026 12:56

Hello,

The recommended video format for Raspberry pi is H264 format, Profile High, Level 4 , Bitrate around 4-8Mbps and Frame rate less than 30fps. Resolution less than 1920X1080.

Regards

piSignage Support

DVision

January 23, 2026 17:22

After converting my media accordingly it worked.

When importing videos as assets, a message appears saying that the upload might take longer should files need converting. Wouldnt it be possible to convert the files into a suitable format automatically? This would make things more user friendly.

I have now written presets for conversion with File Converter. This worked, fine, but it would be nicer if one wouldnt have to do that.

Thanks again for your help.

Video playback lag with Pi 4B

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