The VideoLAN Forums

Some MP4 files seem to be playing back at a lower frame rate (slideshow kind of experience rather than smooth playing) on Apple silicon (tested M1 Max)
The problem appeared from version 3.0.18 onwards. 3.0.17 plays the file smoothly.
Sample video:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1159Xav ... sp=sharing
As other people have noted, there is a workaround for versions >= 3.0.18 that consists in turning off 'videotoolbox hardware acceleration'.
This make the file play smoothly, but CPU usage gets very high.
The issue is also described in this reddit thread
https://www.reddit.com/r/VLC/comments/1 ... e&sort=new

I observed the same issue on an Intel Macbook Pro, so this is not related to Apple Silicon after all.
Again, 3.0.17 and earlier versions play the file smoothly, from 3.0.18 playback is choppy.
The sample file was generated with Davinci Resolve 18, by exporting to H.264 with default setting

Thank you for your sample file! We will take a look!

Created issue: https://code.videolan.org/videolan/vlc/-/issues/28513

VLC release 3.0.21 fixes this issue - thanks!