I've been using Discord for gaming with friends for about a year and a half, but lately the app has been lagging terribly: the audio cuts out, video freezes, messages come through with a delay. I've reinstalled it, cleared the cache - nothing helps. Maybe the problem isn't with the app itself, and there's something I need to adjust?
Have you checked your internet connection? Discord often lags not because of the app itself, but because of unstable Wi-Fi or a congested connection. Try connecting with an ethernet cable if you can, or at least check your speed on speedtest. Also check Discord's settings - there are options for voice and video quality, you can lower them and see if that helps. If nothing works, you should check if there are any background apps eating up your bandwidth (torrents, cloud syncing), or try reinstalling your video drivers - sometimes the problem is actually there.
Try checking Discord's audio and video settings - sometimes the app randomly switches to a built-in microphone or low-quality camera, and that can feel like lag. My friend spent half a year dealing with choppy audio until she found out that somewhere in the settings the video codec got set to the most basic one - the picture looked like it was from the 2000s, and the sound was all staticky.
Also check if you've got other apps running at the same time that are eating up your internet or computer resources. A browser with a bunch of tabs open, torrents, streaming - that's a common culprit. If nothing helps, it could actually be an issue on your ISP's or router's end.
Don't be quick to blame Discord itself or your internet - often the problem is that the app is hogging too many resources. Open Task Manager (or the equivalent on macOS) and check how much memory Discord is using while you're using it. If the number is through the roof, that's your culprit. Try disabling hardware acceleration in the app settings - go to User Settings, then Voice & Video, and look for the accelerated graphics option there. For a lot of people this helps when the graphics processor is conflicting with the system.
Also check how many extensions and bots are connected to the servers you're on. If there are a lot of them, they can put a strain on your connection and Discord itself. Disable the ones you're not actively using. And check for updates - sometimes a new version of the app conflicts with your operating system, especially if your Windows or macOS hasn't been updated in a while.
If none of that helps, then yeah, that's when you should check your actual network - but leave that for last, after you've ruled everything else out.
If the audio and video issues are just in Discord and not in all your apps, check whether you've got experimental features turned on in settings - sometimes they conflict with the stable version. Also try lowering your voice codec quality (in the audio settings) and disabling hardware acceleration in the app settings - those little things often work wonders for performance.
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