How to Fix Black Screen While Streaming on Discord

There is a screen-sharing option available on Discord; with this, you can easily share your gameplay, tutorials or any other content.

The feature’s design is rather simple, but it may be troublesome sometimes, for example, the black screen issue.

If you are one of the users that have also encountered the black screen problem when streaming with Discord, here are some solutions for the same.

To Stream Copyright Content Through the Discord, Do This

One of the reasons why you may experience a black screen while streaming on Discord is if you are sharing contents such as movies or series from those outlets like Netflix, Disney plus, prime video among others.

This is because most of the streaming platform employ the use of DRM (Digital Rights Management) technology to protect the copyright material.

DRM makes certain that a product reaches its intended consumer in the way it was intended through various means of products and, therefore, helps to curb piracy.

By virtue of copyright laws, you cannot stream materials that are copyrighted through Discord. Therefore, although it could make some sense to share your Prime Video or Netflix screen with your friends via Discord, it is against Discord guidelines and will get you in trouble with the law.

Avoiding piracy and content sharing or using the regular and legal means to watch content with friends is also a good practice.

That said, there are other ways through which you can stream such content on Discord, be sure of the following.

How to Solve the Discord Black Screen Problem When Streaming

1. It is essential to make sure the Discord App is run as an administrator

I was able to find several reported problems with Discord’s screen-sharing feature on Windows, most of which stem from a lack of permissions required or temporary glitches with the app itself.

You can usually solve such problems by closing the Discord application and opening it in administrative mode. Therefore, this is the first approach you should employ.

1. Go to the ‘Start’ button and right-click it, then select ‘Task Manager’.
2. In the left navbar of the Processes tab, click on Discord and click on the button at the top that says End task.
3. Open the run-dialog, type ‘Discord’, enter the application, then right-click on the application and select ‘Run as administrator’.

Maybe you should attempt to share your screen one more time and discover if it is not working correctly.

2. Change to the Windowed Mode

One of them needs to be highlighted, since Discord may display a black screen when sharing your screen if the app or program, that you are sharing is in full-screen mode.

However, there is a problem with this; you switch the application you want to share to windowed mode before you initiate a screen share to check if this works.

3. Disable Hardware Acceleration

Discord app is optimized for smooth operation, and it uses your GPU for graphic operations, though it’s called hardware acceleration.

However, this feature can sometimes hamper the screen-sharing feature so that while streaming, it goes black. You may, therefore, probably wish to turn it off.

1. Launch the Discord app and click on the gear icon at the lower left of the application window.
2. This will bring up the Skype interface for the settings. In the left pane, click to go to the Voice & Video tab.
3. On the next line disable the switches that are located next to OpenH264 Video Codec provided by Cisco Systems and Hardware Acceleration.
4. Go to the tab Advanced, and on your right, uncheck the box near Hardware Acceleration.
5. Press Okay, then you will be prompted to restart the Discord app.

Anyway, if you are using Discord through web interface or trying to watch some movie or series on Netflix, YouTube, Prime Video or any other – turn Off the Hardware Acceleration in your browser.

4. Avoid Using Discord’s Cutting-Edge Technology for Screen Recording

As a general rule, Discord employs its most modern equipment to record your screen during a share screen. But this feature can sometimes present a problem, it becomes problematic when screen-sharing falls short and displays a black screen. One which you may want to try is to turn it off and see if the problem ceases to exist.

1. I just want to open the Discord app and that is it, click on three lines at the bottom in the shape of a gear.
2. To do that, click on the Voice & Video tab.
3. Kindly toggle off the one labelled. Use our advanced technology to capture your screen.

After this, try sharing your screen again, and it is advisable to restart the Discord app as well.

5. Application – Adding Your App or Game to Your Discord Profile

If you are still facing the problems of black screen while screen sharing, particularly of a specific app or a program, you can try listing it to your discord account. Below are the methods for the same.

1. On the Discord app, click the gear icon at the bottom part of the screen.
2. Move to the Registered Games tab and then click the Add It link.
3. Type the name of the app or program you’d like to display during screen share and press the Add Game option.

6. Clear the Cache

Cache data can also be a problem in the sense that corrupt or frequent updates lead to the application not functioning properly on your computer.

Another thing that you can do is to clear the cache of the existing Discord application in the aim to help solving the problem.

1. In order to launch the Run window, the Windows key + R need to be pressed simultaneously.
2. You will have to type ‘%appdata%/discord’ in the square and press the ‘Enter’ button.
3. Select the Cache, Code Cache and GPUCache folders.
4. For those you have to delete, click the trash located at the top of the page.

7. Update Graphics Drivers

A black screen while streaming may be caused by the graphics driver on your PC’s Discord application. Therefore, if all the options on the list do not help, go to the Control Panel and check whether the PC’s graphics driver is updated.

Stream With Clarity

Sometimes while you are using discord to relay your gameplay or even watching a video with friends, you can be met by a black screen. Luckily, this problem can be solved with the help of the above-listed recommendations.