VLC Player Startup Lag on Windows Attributed to Microsoft Defender
Game developer Jonathan Blow publicly criticized VLC media player's slow performance on Windows 11. The VLC development team has clarified the issue stems from Microsoft Defender incorrectly quarantining the player's cache.
Game developer Jonathan Blow publicly criticized VLC media player's slow performance on Windows 11. Blow stated on X that he was abandoning VLC due to the software taking approximately 33 seconds to open a simple MP3 file, calling it an "embarrassing state" for open-source software.
The VLC development team, VideoLAN, responded to the criticism, explaining that the delay is not an issue with VLC itself. Instead, a recent Windows 11 update caused Microsoft Defender to incorrectly quarantine VLC's plugin cache. This cache stores information about installed modules and plugins to avoid re-enumerating them on each startup.
When the cache is lost or inaccessible, VLC must rescan all modules upon launching, leading to significant startup delays. VideoLAN suggests resolving the issue by reinstalling VLC or regenerating the plugin cache.
Users can execute the command vlc --reset-plugins-cache in the command prompt or use the "VLC media player - reset preferences and cache files" shortcut from the Windows Start menu. Some users have also found that adding vlc.exe to Microsoft Defender's exclusion list prevents the cache from being quarantined in the future.