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Performance5 min read

What Is Frame Pacing? The Physics of Smooth Motion Delivery

Frame pacing describes the temporal regularity with which consecutive frames are presented to the screen. Even at high FPS, erratic intervals cause stutter.

Published: 2026-01-20•Reviewed: 2026-08-30
Interactive Diagnostic Tool
Frame Pacing Test

Detect frame delivery unevenness, micro-stutters, and presentation queue pacing anomalies.

Launch

1.Temporal Consistency vs Raw Throughput

A game or browser rendering 60 frames in one second can deliver those frames evenly every 16.67ms, or irregularly in rapid bursts followed by long pauses (e.g. 8ms, 25ms, 8ms, 25ms). While both scenarios yield exactly 60 FPS, the second scenario suffers from severe frame pacing degradation.

2.Root Causes of Frame Pacing Flaws

Frame pacing breakdowns typically stem from mismatched presentation queues, CPU thread synchronization bottlenecks, operating system compositor scheduling conflicts, or inconsistent GPU frame buffer swaps.

Frequently Asked Questions

How can I fix bad frame pacing?

Cap your frame rate slightly below your monitor refresh rate (e.g. 141 FPS on a 144Hz monitor with G-Sync/FreeSync), enable Reflex/Anti-Lag, and close background applications competing for CPU thread execution.