[MC-267986] Fullscreen causes stuttering and audio lag in MacOS

Windowed mode is normal performance to be expected
Fullscreen using MacOS's windows options causes the stuttering and audio lag
Enabling fullscreen from within Minecraft options does not cause the stuttering and audio flag

Tested on 1.19.2 and 1.20.4 under different memory configurations, JVM flags (Aikar's Flags and default) and Java versions (Java 17, 18 and 21 if I recall correctly) - issue occurs regardless

EDIT: I strongly suspect that the issue is Sonoma's Game Mode, as toggling it on and off in fullscreen appears to stop the audio stuttering from happening

Comments 3

[Mod] markderickson 2024-01-25T22:04:33Z

Hi! Thanks for the report. I'm currently unable to reproduce exactly what you described. Are you referring to in-game audio stuttering, or external audio? In my testing, only audio external to the game (such as an MP3 playing) stutters, while in-game audio remains clear as expected.

I too suspect that it's an issue with Game Mode itself and not with Minecraft, though I just would like to confirm that my understanding of the issue is similar to yours.

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Alex Schofield 2024-01-31T20:23:51Z

Hi, it's the audio in-game that is stuttering like in the video. I've tried multiple Java versions and Minecraft versions and it happens across all of them. CPU and RAM usage is normal when this happens too. In fullscreen, MacOS automatically enables Game Mode for Minecraft and disables it when playing in windowed mode. The audio appears to stutter around the time that frame times and TPS spike, but it's strange that this only happens in Game Mode.

clamlol 2024-05-26T00:40:12Z

I also have never gotten this issue. I would recommend testing all sorts of fullscreen games (Unity games, Unreal games, etc.) to see if you can reproduce this in any other app.