Why does LibreOffice feel sluggish on Windows compared to Linux?

[therajatshahare]

I’ve been using LibreOffice on both Windows and Linux, and I’ve noticed a big difference in performance; on Linux it runs super smoothly, while on Windows it often feels laggy (e.g., UI delays, slow scrolling, startup time).

I’ve tried adding LibreOffice to my graphics card list and enabling hardware acceleration (Skia), but it didn’t help much.

Is there any technical reason for this difference? Are there known optimizations or settings that can make LibreOffice perform better on Windows?

I’m curious whether this is due to LibreOffice’s backend (VCL, Skia, etc.), Windows system integration, or something else. Because sometimes I feel that Microsoft intentionally make LibreOffice slower in Windows machine.

[mariosv]

Please paste here the information on Menu/Help/About LibreOffice (There is an icon to copy)

[fpy]

@therajatshahare

technical

See maybe First steps to take before submitting a bug - The Document Foundation WikiSkia #Graphics-related_issues-_Skia

[EarnestAl]

@therajatshahare

and enabling hardware acceleration (Skia)

Try clicking the box Force Skia software rendering in Tools - Options - LibreOffice - View. Allow LibreOffice to restart and then check.

Note that opening LibreOffice will take time to load the program. Once LibreOffice is open, subsequent documents will load more quickly

[Spacenerd117]

Somewhat ironically, considering the last response, I got mine to stop lagging by turning off Skia rendering entirely and enabling hardware acceleration.

[r.grafe]

Most likely a cryptical caching behavior of Windows in older versions (for example Windows 11 23H2). Under Windows 25H2 LO runs fast.
Try to enable quickstart. Maybe it helps, if you use LO day by day, if you use it a few days not, it’s lame again.
Details of my odyssey you can read here (also my hidden comments)
129062 – (Skia) [META] Skia library bugs 1
To find this “solution” almost droves me crazy. Every tip I tried before seems to be the solution, but next day LO was slow again. Like a ghost in the machine.
Skia is mostly only a problem on old, slow hardware, same as disabling fonts preview.

[r.grafe]

To be more precise: Under Win 25H2 LO runs fast at each second start, runs fast means the second start of LO and the second opening of “Tools” menu and there partially some submenus, first start or fist opening of Tools menu and some submenus also a little bit slow, but no quickstart necessary, no difference. Under Win 23H2 one time enabling quickstart was my solution, but behavior is still like a ghost in the machine, if one uses LO a few days no more.
The developers want to replace Skia Ganesh with Skia Graphite, 129062 – (Skia) [META] Skia library bugs, hopefully that improves the performance under windows.