Applies To
Windows 11

Optimizations for windowed games improves gaming performance for DirectX 10 and DirectX 11 games running in windowed and borderless windowed modes.

It transitions compatible games from the legacy blt‑model presentation to the newer flip‑model, reducing frame latency and enabling modern gaming features such as Auto HDR and variable refresh rate on supported displays.

To use optimizations for windowed games

  1. Select the Start button, then choose Settings .

  2. In Settings , select System and choose Display  .

  3. Select Graphics and under Default settings, turn on the switch by Optimizations for windowed games.

  4. Restart your game.

Note: If you turn on Auto HDR, Optimizations for windowed games will be turned on automatically. If you want to turn off Optimizations for windowed games, you’ll need to turn off Auto HDR first.

To turn optimizations off for a specific app or game

  1. Select the Start button, then select Settings .

  2. In Settings , select System > Display > Graphics.

  3. Under Custom options for apps, select the app or game you want to change the graphics settings for, then select Options.

  4. In Graphics preference, do one or more of the following:

    • If your PC has more than one graphics processor (GPU), select one of the graphics performance setting to use for the app or game:

      • Let Windows decide (Power saving)

      • Power saving

      • High performance.

    • To turn off optimizations for windowed games, select the Optimizations for windowed games switch.

    • To turn off Auto HDR for the selected app or game, select the Don’t use Auto HDR checkbox.

  5. Select Save.

  6. Restart your game or app.

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