.. Copyright (c) 2008-2024 OpenShot Studios, LLC
(http://www.openshotstudios.com). This file is part of
OpenShot Video Editor (http://www.openshot.org), an open-source project
dedicated to delivering high quality video editing and animation solutions
to the world.
.. OpenShot Video Editor is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
(at your option) any later version.
.. OpenShot Video Editor is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
GNU General Public License for more details.
.. You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
along with OpenShot Library. If not, see .
.. _troubleshoot_ref:
Troubleshooting
===============
If you are experiencing an issue with OpenShot, such as a freeze, crash, or error message, there are many different
techniques which can be useful for troubleshooting the issue.
Windows 11 Unresponsive
-----------------------
If you experience a freeze on Windows 11, this is a known issue with PyQt5 and Windows 11, related to the
accessibility features in Qt. This is triggered by pressing :kbd:`Ctrl+C` in OpenShot (*only on Windows 11*).
OpenShot will become unresponsive and a memory leak is also present (i.e. the longer OpenShot is unresponsive,
the larger your memory leak will become until OpenShot finally crashes or the user kills the process).
A simple work-around is to avoid :kbd:`Ctrl+C` on Windows 11, and instead use the right-click Copy/Paste menus. Another
work-around is to remap your "Copy" from :kbd:`Ctrl+C` to something else, for example :kbd:`Alt+C`. You can change
your keyboard mappings in the OpenShot Preferences. See :ref:`preferences_keyboard_ref`.
Windows Debugging with GDB
--------------------------
If you are experiencing a crash or freeze with OpenShot in Windows 10/11, the following step by step instructions
will help you determine the cause of the crash. These instructions will display a stack trace of OpenShot's source code,
at the location of the crash. This information can be extremely useful for our development team, and very useful to
attach to bug reports (for a quicker resolution).
Install the Latest Daily Build
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Before attaching a debugger, please download the **latest version** of OpenShot: https://www.openshot.org/download#daily.
Install this version of OpenShot to the default location: ``C:\Program Files\OpenShot Video Editor\``. For details
instructions on debugging OpenShot on Windows, please see `this wiki `_.
Install MSYS2
^^^^^^^^^^^^^
The Windows version of OpenShot is compiled using an environment called MSYS2. In order to attach the GDB debugger
to our executable, ``openshot-qt.exe``, you must first install MSYS2. This step is only required once.
1. Download & Install MSYS2: ``_
2. Run ``MSYS2 MinGW x64`` command prompt (for example: ``C:\msys64\msys2_shell.cmd -mingw64``)
3. Update all packages (*Copy/Paste the following command*):
.. code-block:: shell
pacman -Syu
4. Install GDB debugger (*Copy/Paste the following command*):
.. code-block:: shell
pacman -S --needed --disable-download-timeout mingw-w64-x86_64-toolchain
Launch OpenShot with GDB Debugger
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Run ``MSYS2 MinGW x64`` command prompt (for example: ``C:\msys64\msys2_shell.cmd -mingw64``)
Update the PATH (*Copy/Paste the following commands*):
.. code-block:: bash
export PATH="/c/Program Files/OpenShot Video Editor/lib:$PATH"
export PATH="/c/Program Files/OpenShot Video Editor/lib/PyQt5:$PATH"
Load OpenShot into the GDB debugger (*Copy/Paste the following commands*):
.. code-block:: bash
cd "/c/Program Files/OpenShot Video Editor"/
gdb openshot-qt.exe
Launch OpenShot from GDB prompt (*Copy/Paste the following command*):
.. code-block:: bash
run --debug
Print Debugging Info
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Once OpenShot has launched successfully with GDB attached, all you need to do is trigger a crash or freeze in OpenShot.
When a crash occurs, switch back to the MSYS2 MinGW64 terminal and run one of the following commands
(by typing it and pressing ENTER). Usually, the first command to enter is ``bt``, which stands for ``backtrace``.
More commands are listed below.
.. code-block:: bash
(gdb) run (launch openshot-qt.exe)
(gdb) CTRL + C (to manually break out OR wait for a crash / segmentation fault)
(gdb) bt (Print stack trace for the current thread #)
(gdb) info threads (to view all threads, and what they are doing. Look for `__lll_lock_wait` for Mutex/deadlocks)
(gdb) thread 35 (Switch to thread number, for example thread 35)
High DPI / 4K Monitors
----------------------
OpenShot Video Editor provides robust support for High DPI (Dots Per Inch)
monitors, ensuring that the interface looks sharp and is easily readable on
displays with various DPI settings. This support is particularly helpful on 4K
monitors and other high-resolution displays.
Per Monitor DPI Awareness
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
OpenShot is DPI aware on a per-monitor basis, meaning it can adjust its scaling
dynamically depending on the DPI settings of each connected monitor. This helps
provide a consistent experience across different displays.
DPI Scaling on Windows
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
On Windows, OpenShot rounds the scaling factor to the nearest whole value to
maintain visual integrity. This helps avoid visual artifacts in the UI and
keeps interface elements crisp and well-aligned. Due to this rounding, some
scaling options can lead to larger fonts and UI elements than expected.
- **125% scaling** rounds to **100%**
- **150% scaling** rounds to **200%**
Workarounds for Fine-Grained Adjustment
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
While rounding helps maintain a clean interface, there are workarounds for
users who require more precise control over scaling. These methods are **not
recommended** due to potential visual artifacts:
- **QT_SCALE_FACTOR_ROUNDING_POLICY=PassThrough**
- Setting this environment variable can disable rounding and allow more precise scaling.
- **Note:** This may cause visual artifacts, particularly in the timeline, and is not recommended.
- **QT_SCALE_FACTOR=1.25** (or similar value)
- Manually setting the scale factor can provide finer adjustments to the font and UI scaling.
- This can also be set via Preferences (User Interface Scale), but expect border/line issues on Windows with fractional scales.
- **Note:** This method can also lead to visual artifacts and make OpenShot harder to use.
For more info on adjusting these environment variables, please visit
https://github.com/OpenShot/openshot-qt/wiki/OpenShot-UI-too-large.