How Can You Fix Green Screen on Videos on Windows and Mac?

Eleanor Reed

Jan 15, 2024 • Filed to: Photo/Video/Audio Solutions • Proven solutions

Q: How do you fix the green screen on videos?

It can be irritating when a green screen appears on the video you are playing. The green screen normally develops due to problems with the Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) of your device. Also, you may be faced with a green screen problem during video playback on the VLC player as well as Windows Media Player. All of these instances may seem overwhelming but they can be fixed once you follow the steps that will be provided here. You can also prevent future occurrences of a green screen on your videos when you take into account, the tips in this article.

Part 1: Why Screen Turns Green When Watching Videos

There are several reasons why your screen turns green when watching videos and they include:

1. Outdated Graphic Card Drivers: Problems related to graphics cards can be the major factor responsible for the green screen on videos. This occurs when your graphic drivers are outdated and therefore, can no longer support the effective processing and playing of videos on your device. GPU rendering is simply the use of a graphics card for the rendering of functions like videos. If its drivers are not as updated as your operating system, then the green screen error develops.

2. Unsupportive Flash Player: This occurs when the flash from which you are playing your video is not of a capacity that can support the video, especially when the video quality is high. Besides, a green screen error could occur due to the poor performance of your system hardware that comes from damages or corruption.

3. Unreliable Third-party Software: A software from another source, when used on your system can be the cause of system errors thereby leading to a green screen on videos. This is more so when malware or the other finds its way into your system when you download the third-party software. It could even be a virus that comes with the software itself.

4. Other Factors: Other factors responsible for the green screen on videos include corrupt or damaged video files, errors that occur during video downloads and transfers, corrupt operating systems, as well as media player program errors.

Part 2: How to Fix Green Screen on Videos

Here, you will be provided with different solutions to try when it comes to fixing the green screen error of your videos; they include:

Solution 1. Fix the Green Screen with Wondershare Repairit Video Repair

Wondershare Repairit  Video Repair is a product released by Wondershare, to enable you to fix your video errors across all devices. Also, this tool is unique as it ensures that you do not lose your video files after repairing them. This tool repairs videos for different formats such as MOV, FLV, AVI, MKV, 3GP, among others. It repairs videos in two modes:

Video Tutorial on How to Repair Corrupted MP4 File?

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It can even use its Advanced Repair mode to increase video repair quality. The mode uses the data of a sample video to repair your corrupted file. Wondershare Repairit analyzes the video structure and learns how the corrupted video, which has the same format as the sample video, works, and thus further repairs corrupted videos.

Video files that have been corrupted during the processes of video conversion, editing, or transfer can be repaired with Repairit Video Repair. You can use the steps below to fix the green screen on videos using this tool:

Solution 2. Fix the Green Screen on Windows Media Player

Windows Media Player is the default video and audio player for the Windows Operating System. If a green screen appears on your videos while playing on Windows Media Player, you can fix it using the following solutions.

• Edit Settings.

The steps to edit the settings of your Windows Media Player are:

1. Launch Windows Media Player. Go to the "Tools" menu bar, so choose "Options". Press the "Alt" key on your keyboard.

2. Select "Performance". Go to the box next to "Turn on DirectX video acceleration" and uncheck it.

• Update Your Codecs

1. Visit the Microsoft website, download "Codecs"

2. Download the setup file which you will then use to install the codecs you downloaded

3. You can also use codecs from a third-party in this solution, and not necessarily from Microsoft itself.

• Ensure DirectX Is Updated

1. Press the keys "Win" + "R". In Command prompt, type in: dxdiag. Press "Enter" on your keyboard.

2. Browse through the pop-up window and locate where the DirectX version is shown; take note of it.

3. Go to your browser and visit the DirectX official website. If there is the latest version of the program apart from the one you took note of, you should download it.

4. Open the file you downloaded and then install it on your PC.

• Re-register Windows Media Player

1. Start your system's "Command Prompt" as the administrator

2. In this interface, type in "regsvr32 wmvdecod.dll", then press "Enter" on your keyboard.

Note that this solution is limited to only videos played on Windows-based systems and devices. This means that for another OS based system like Mac, you cannot fix the green screen using the solution. However, read on to find out how you can fix the green screen on all devices and still recover all your lost video data.

Solution 3. Fix the Green Screen on VLC

VLC is a media player that is free and able to support the playing of different media files with ease. Being a media player, you cannot use the following methods for videos in CDs for example. You can fix the green screen on VLC using the following steps:

• Install VLC's Latest Version.

Uninstall VLC from your computer and try to reinstall it, before playing the videos again.

• Change Your VLC Settings.

To do this on Windows, follow these steps.

1. Click on "Tools" from the menu, then let "Preferences" be your choice.

2. Set the "Show Settings to All" choice before choosing the "Video" > "Output" module. For more recent versions of Windows (from XP downwards), try "DirectX 3D", "OpenGL", "DirectX", and "Windows GDI video" output modules.

3. Restart your VLC to play properly without the green screen error.

• Disable Hardware Acceleration.

Go to VLC media player preferences and disable video acceleration; an older desktop can cause this error from a video card that cannot support recent high-quality videos. Play the files by restarting the application.

Solution 4: Disable your Hardware Acceleration:

This is commonly used as an online solution for the green screen on videos. The steps differ for different browsers so take note.

• For Internet Explorer/Microsoft Edge:

1. Go to "Search", type "Internet Options" and choose it from the menu.

2. Go to the "Advanced" tab. Under "Accelerated Graphics", tick the box beside "Use software rendering instead of GPU rendering*". Select "Apply" and click "OK". Your changes will be saved.

• For Firefox:

1. Select "Menu". Click on "Options"

2. In the "General" section, go to "Performance" and untick the "Use recommended performance settings" and the "Use hardware acceleration when available" boxes.

3. Close the "Options" tab and hardware acceleration automatically gets disabled.

• For Google Chrome:

1. Click on "Menu", and select "Settings" from it.

2. Under the "Settings" options, select "Advanced"

3. In the "System" section, put off the "Use hardware acceleration when available" option.

4. Close the "Settings" tab and then restart your Google Chrome.

Solution 5: Update your Graphics Card Driver:

To update your graphics drivers in Windows, ensure you are logged in as "Administrator". Follow these steps:

• Press the Windows (Win) key + r
• Type in the combination: devmgmt.msc. Press the "Enter" key

• From the list under "Display adapters", right-click on the "Graphics" option and choose "Properties"

• In the "Driver" tab, select "Update Driver"

• Choose "Search automatically for updated driver software"

• Let the on-screen instructions guide you through the update process.

Solution 6: Run Windows Troubleshooter

You can run your PC's troubleshooter to fix the green screen on Windows 10 with these steps:

• Press Win + S to open the search field; type "control panel". Choose the "Control Panel" option from the menu.

• In the "Control Panel" window, go to "Troubleshooting"

• Select "View all" on the left pane

• Select "Hardware and Devices"

• Follow the on-screen instructions to finish the troubleshooter process of fixing your video green screen problem.

Solution 7: For YouTube Videos

For a persistent green screen on YouTube videos, try to change the video quality to make it easily supported by your device. Do this in the following steps.

• Open your browser and play the desired YouTube video
• Select on the "Gear" icon and from the menu, choose "Quality"

• You can now select different video quality from your default video quality.

Part 3: Prevent Video Green Screen on Windows and Mac

It is good to know how to fix the green screen on your system, but it is even better to know how to prevent the green screen from covering up your videos in the first place. Some tips are provided for you below:

1. Windows Computer Tips Against Video Green Screen

• Ensure you update the graphic drivers of your PC any time you perform an update of your Windows OS. This is important because when you play your videos on a computer that uses outdated graphic drivers that are incompatible with the latest Windows version, there are bound to be such issues as video file corruption which may lead to your video screen becoming green.
• Use flash players and drives that are in good condition to avoid video corruption. Let the drives be able to handle videos of higher quality.
• Play your videos on another media player instead of Windows Media Player all the time.
• Get rid of all the data in your cache regularly to clear up junk that could constitute error to your system.
• Always update your browser to the latest version, so it can handle the latest upgraded qualities of online videos.

2. Mac Tips for Playing Videos

• Use other browsers to play your videos online. This is feasible in a situation where a particular browser has a history of showing a green screen when you play videos on it.
• Whenever you are watching videos online, make sure other tabs and interfaces are closed so that the activities from these open windows will not cause errors and affect the video you are playing.
• Regularly, ensure you delete all the cookies and temporary files that have saved up on your Mac. It frees up space for your system.
• Reboot your computer any time you have used it for a while and want to play a video. Sometimes, rebooting your computer is all you need to do to get your video working properly once again after an error occurs.

Having seen that it is possible to fix the green screen on videos for both Mac and Windows, you should have no reason to worry. What's more? You can prevent a green screen on your system by taking the precautions that have been spelled out above.