Remote desktop lag: why it's slow and how to fix it

Start with what you see. It usually points straight at the problem:

Fix latency first. A sharp picture still feels sluggish when every click takes a quarter of a second to come back, and a faster internet plan doesn't make the round trip any shorter. For the ideas behind all three, in plain English, see remote desktop lag, explained simply.

• Test both ends. Run the test on the device you connect from, and on the PC you're reaching, from a session or the next time you're there. A poor result at one end tells you where to look.
• Check the upload at the PC you're reaching. The screen is sent from there, and the latency test measures download, so check that PC's upload speed too, with any general internet speed test.
• Watch a live session. In the RemoteAccessApp Console on Windows or Linux, press Ctrl+Alt+Shift+I during a session for connection health: the delay, frames per second, speed in each direction, the codec and a rating with its reason. In a browser, open Session settings: Connection shows your round trip and how steady it is, and Test speed checks the download.
• Test when it's slow. Home and mobile networks are busiest in the evening, so a test at lunchtime can miss the problem.

Write the numbers down, change one thing at a time and test again, so you know what actually helped.

Roughly in order of how much they help. Most apply to any remote desktop, not just ours.

1. 1

   Step 1: Put the remote PC on a cable

   Wi-Fi adds delay, and that delay jumps around as people move, doors close and nearby networks get busy. An Ethernet cable to the router usually helps more than anything else, especially on the PC you're reaching. If a cable isn't possible, move the PC or the router closer and use the 5 GHz band rather than 2.4 GHz. Do the same on your end if you're on Wi-Fi far from the router.

2. 2

   Step 2: Shorten the distance

   Every trip across the internet takes time, and longer distances take longer. RemoteAccessApp sessions go through a relay, and on Automatic the app uses the fastest one for you and the PC. To see the ping to each location or pick one yourself, open Settings, then Connection, then Relay location in the Console. The help page on relay location has the details.

3. 3

   Step 3: Stop big uploads on the remote PC

   Home internet often uploads far slower than it downloads, and the screen is sent from the PC you're reaching. Anything else uploading from that PC or its network competes with your session: cloud backups and file sync, game launchers, video calls, cameras sending clips. Pause them while you work.

   Windows can also share updates with other PCs. In Settings, open Windows Update, Advanced options, then Delivery Optimization to turn that off or limit the upload it uses.

4. 4

   Step 4: Send fewer pixels

   A 4K screen has four times the pixels of a 1080p one, and every extra monitor adds more. Show one monitor rather than all of them and keep the session window a sensible size. In RemoteAccessApp, Display then Screen picks the monitor. On the free plan a session shows the PC's main screen; with Pro you can pick any screen or show them all, as the multi-monitor remote desktop guide explains.

5. 5

   Step 5: Match the frame rate and quality to the connection

   More frames and a sharper picture both mean more data. If the picture lags behind your mouse, lower Smoothness or Quality in the session's Display menu, so less is waiting on the way. If it's responsive but jerky and the connection has room, raise Smoothness. Free sessions run at 15 or 30 frames per second, and RemoteAccessApp Pro adds 45 and 60.

   On a poor connection, turn on low-bandwidth mode from Tools or connection health: up to 10 frames per second, lower quality and a smaller picture, remembered for that PC. In a browser, open Session settings and pick Saves data, Balanced or Sharpest under Picture.

6. 6

   Step 6: Let the graphics card do the work

   Turning a screen into video takes work. On Windows, RemoteAccessApp has the PC's graphics card capture and encode the screen when it can. The Display menu shows what's happening right now: the codec, whether the graphics card (hardware) or the processor (software) is doing it, and the frame rate. If it says software, update the PC's graphics driver. A PC busy with a game, a render or a big download has less left over for the session, so close what you don't need.

   Codec in the same menu can help too. Auto picks the best both PCs support, H.264 suits an older PC, AV1 sends sharp text with less data but can give the processor more to do, and Classic works anywhere.

7. 7

   Step 7: Turn off power saving

   Power saving slows the processor, graphics card and network to save energy, and a remote session feels it first. Plug in a laptop you're reaching. In Windows 11, open Settings, System, Power & battery and set Power mode to Balanced or Best performance. Energy saver (Battery saver on older versions) holds back background work too. While you're there, set the PC not to sleep when it's plugged in.

8. 8

   Step 8: Stop the network adapter from sleeping

   Windows can switch off the network adapter to save power, which shows up as stalls, a frozen picture or a dropped session. In Device Manager, open Network adapters, double-click the adapter, and on the Power Management tab, if it has one, untick Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power. Some Wi-Fi adapters also have a power saving option on the Advanced tab. If sessions drop rather than lag, see remote desktop keeps disconnecting.

If you use Remote Desktop Connection, the app built into Windows (mstsc), everything above applies, plus a few settings of its own. Select Show Options before you connect:

• Experience: choose your connection speed instead of Detect connection quality automatically, then untick what you can do without, such as Desktop background, Font smoothing, Menu and window animation and Show window contents while dragging. Leave Persistent bitmap caching ticked: it saves sending the same parts of the screen again.
• Display: pick a smaller size, untick Use all my monitors for the remote session, and on a slow link lower Colors to High Color (16 bit).
• Local Resources: under Remote audio, choose Do not play if you don't need the sound.

On the PC you connect to, which needs Windows Pro or higher to accept Remote Desktop connections, the Local Group Policy Editor (gpedit.msc) has more under Computer Configuration, Administrative Templates, Windows Components, Remote Desktop Services, Remote Desktop Session Host, Remote Session Environment. Use hardware graphics adapters for all Remote Desktop Services sessions and Configure H.264/AVC hardware encoding for Remote Desktop Connections let Remote Desktop use the PC's graphics card.

Remote Desktop sends at most 30 frames per second by default. On the PC you connect to, a DWORD value named DWMFRAMEINTERVAL set to 15 (decimal) under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Terminal Server\WinStations raises that to 60 after a restart. It only helps on a fast connection and uses more bandwidth, so back up the registry before you change it.

Reaching Remote Desktop over the internet usually means opening a port on your router, which also exposes the PC to anyone scanning for it. Remote desktop without port forwarding explains the other way.

• The nearest relay. Sessions to the PCs in your account go through a RemoteAccessApp relay, and there are relays in more than one part of the world. On Automatic, the app tests them in the background, every 30 minutes and whenever your network changes, and uses the fastest.
• A stream that fits the link. When the connection can't carry what you asked for, the PC lowers the frame rate or the quality by itself, and the picture keeps flowing when the delay jumps around on Wi-Fi.
• Video from the graphics card. On Windows the screen is captured and encoded as H.264 on the graphics card where it can be. AV1, which needs less data for sharp text, is used when both PCs handle it on their graphics cards, or on a slow connection when the PC's processor has time to spare.
• Frame rates by plan. Free: 15 or 30 frames per second. Pro: 45 or 60, and Pro sessions start at 60. The rate you pick is remembered for each PC.
• Connection health you can see. The toolbar's signal bars rate the connection, and after a while on a poor one the app suggests low-bandwidth mode. It never switches it on by itself.
• Plain facts in a browser. Session settings says how your connection is, for example Your connection: 340 ms, unsteady. The picture may lag.
• Reconnects by itself. When the network changes, for example from Wi-Fi to mobile data, the session picks up again.

The features page lists everything else, and what's free and what's in Pro.

If a session is slow even when both networks are quiet and the numbers look fine, check the server status page, and see slow or choppy sessions for the quick fixes in short form. If either end is on mobile or satellite internet, read remote access behind CGNAT, 4G/5G and Starlink for the settings that suit those links.