Fix Prime Video Issues: Crashing, Buffering, Audio out of Sync in 2026

If you're a die-hard Prime Video subscriber like me, keeping a close eye on new releases every week, then odds are you've also been driven crazy by buffering, lagging, app crashes, audio-sync, and subtitle-sync issues.

According to Nielsen's latest 2025 data, streaming now accounts for nearly 45% of all TV usage, but the technology feels more fragile than ever. Don't worry! This post will guide you to fix the Prime Video playing problems step by step, covering annoying crashing, buffering, out of sync issues. I'll break down the reasons and solutions in detail, and help you get back to your streaming ASAP.

Prime Video Playing Not Working: Reasons Behind the Glitch

First, let's identify the root causes of the top 3 common playback issues on Prime Video. By learning these, we can even prevent the Prime Video app from crashing, buffering, and other issues in advance.

Why Prime Video Crashes or Goes Black

Why does Prime Video keep crashing on my TV? In fact, when Prime Video keeps crashing back to the home screen, it's rarely about bandwidth. The causes of Prime Video crashing on TV and mobile are:

1️⃣ Memory Leaks: Smart TVs (especially older Samsung or Roku devices) have limited RAM. If the app hasn't been fully closed in weeks, it runs out of memory and force-closes.

2️⃣ HDCP Failure: If you see a black screen but hear sound, your HDMI cable isn't sending the correct copyright "handshake" to the TV.

3️⃣ Corrupted Cache: Temporary data stored by the app can become corrupted after an update. It can immediately crash upon launch.

Why Prime Video Keeps Buffering

If you're wondering, "Why does my Prime Video keep buffering?", do not blame your Internet speed first! The reasons might be buried deeper than you thought:

1️⃣ ISP Throttling: Internet providers may detect streaming traffic and intentionally throttle it during peak hours (like 7-11 PM).

2️⃣ Wi-Fi Channel Interference: The 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi band is too slow for 4K HDR streaming. It will lead to that dreaded Prime Video keeps buffering loop.

3️⃣ Background "Vampires": Other devices (consoles downloading updates, cloud backups) are sucking up bandwidth without your knowledge (Check if your Steam is downloading a 100GB game!).

Why Audio and Subtitles Go Out of Sync on Prime Video

If you found the Amazon Prime Video audio out of sync problem on your PC, Samsung TV, Firestick or other devices, there are mainly 4 reasons:

1️⃣ Frame Rate Mismatch: Movies usually run at 24fps. If your TV forces "Motion Smoothing" (interpolating to 60fps), the audio may desynchronize from the video.

2️⃣ Ad-Insertion Glitches: The new 2025 ad-supported tiers introduce "break points" in the stream. Sometimes, the video resumes after an ad, but the subtitle timestamp doesn't, causing text to lag.

3️⃣ Bluetooth Latency: Using wireless headphones can introduce a 100-300ms delay that the app fails to compensate for automatically.

4️⃣ Processing Lag: Your TV's "image enhancement" features take time to process video, delaying the picture while audio plays instantly, causing audio to be out of sync.

How to Fix Prime Video Keeps Crashing and Black Screen

If you are screaming at your TV because Prime Video keeps crashing or freezing on a black screen, try these 3 fixes in order. They solve about 90% of hardware-related glitches. Read Record Prime Video Without Black Screen to check the reason and solution of the black screen problem.

Fix 1: Power Cycle

What we need to do is clear the RAM on your device, especially when you find that Prime Video keeps crashing on Samsung TV, Roku TV, mobile, or other devices. Do not just turn your TV off via the remote, which only puts it in "Standby" mode. Follow these steps:

1. While the TV and router are on, unplug them directly from the wall socket.
2. Wait for 60 full seconds. (This drains the residual power in the capacitors).
3. Plug them back in and relaunch the app.

📌 Why: It clears the temporary cache that was clogging the device's memory. Thus, the "low memory" crash can be solved instantly.

Fix 2: Disable IPv6 and Change DNS Settings

If your app opens but videos refuse to load (spinning circle) on TVs, your ISP might be struggling to resolve Amazon's video servers. Changing your DNS can bypass this. Here's how to do it on Firestick or Android TV:

1. Go to Settings > Network > Status. Note your IP address.
2. Select your Wi-Fi network and choose Advanced Settings.
3. Set IP settings to Static.
4. Change DNS 1 to 8.8.8.8 (Google) and DNS 2 to 8.8.4.4.

📌 Why: This forces a more direct connection to Prime Video servers, often bypassing regional outages.

Fix 3: Clear App Cache and Clear Data

If you are seeing Prime Video crashing on Samsung TV or Roku specifically after an update, your old login files might be corrupted. Try clear cache on your devices. If that doesn't work, try clearing data.

📌 To Clear Cache:

• On mobile: Navigate to Settings > Applications > Manage Installed Applications > Prime Video and select "Force Stop" before clearing.
• On TV: Go to Home > Settings > Clear Cache (varies by brands)
• On browser: Go to Settings > Privacy and security > Clear browsing data

📌 To Clear Data: Resets the app to factory settings (you will need to log in again). Do this if the cache clear doesn't work.

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Note for Roku Users: Roku doesn't have a "Clear Cache" button.

Instead, highlight the Prime Video app, press the Star (*) button, and select Remove Channel. Restart your Roku, then Reinstall the app to achieve the same effect.

How to Stop Prime Video Buffering and Freezing

There is nothing more suspense-killing than Prime Video buffering or freezing right before the plot twist. If you're still wondering, "Why is my Prime Video buffering?" or "Why does the video quality suddenly drop to pixelated blocks (144p)?", try the 3 fixes.

Fix 1: Stop "Hidden" Bandwidth Hogs

You might be the only one watching TV, but your network could be busy elsewhere. Check if there is any "Vampire device" that is draining bandwidth in the background.

1. Check for Cloud Backups: Phones often auto-backup photos to iCloud or Google Photos when plugged in at night. Pause these syncs while watching to avoid Prime Video buffering on mobile.

2. Game Consoles: A PS5 or Xbox downloading a 50GB patch in "Rest Mode" will consume your entire downstream bandwidth, leaving nothing for Prime Video.

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You can also control the bandwidth on your router side.

Log in to your router's admin page (usually 192.168.1.1) and look for QoS (Quality of Service) settings. Prioritize your TV or streaming device over other traffic to ensure it always gets "first dibs" on the internet.

Fix 2: Adjust Streaming Quality Manually

By default, Prime Video uses "Best" quality, which demands roughly 5GB of data per hour. If your connection dips even slightly, the app buffers to catch up. Lowering the threshold slightly can stop the freezing completely.

📌 On Mobile/Tablet: Go to Settings > Stream & Download > Streaming Quality and select "Better" instead of "Best." The visual difference on a small screen is negligible, but it saves 40% of the bandwidth.

📌 On Smart TVs: While you can't always set a specific bitrate on TV apps, disabling "Auto-Play Trailers" in the settings menu stops the app from pre-loading multiple video streams at once. It can also free up resources for your movie.

Fix 3: Disable Hardware Acceleration (For PC)

If you are watching on a laptop and Prime Video keeps buffering or the screen stutters while the audio continues, it is likely that your browser is trying to use your GPU to render video. On older laptops or with outdated drivers, this causes conflicts. To fix it, follow the 4 steps:

1. Go to Settings in your browser.
2. Search for "Acceleration".
3. Toggle OFF "Use graphics acceleration when available".
4. Relaunch the browser.

This often fixes the specific "black screen with audio" or stuttering issues on web players.

How to Fix Audio Sync & Subtitle Delays

When audio is out of sync or lips are not moving with words, it breaks the immersion completely. Similarly, the Prime Video subtitle out of sync problem ruins our online viewing in the same way. 

These "desync" issues are rarely caused by slow internet. Instead, they are usually caused by your smart TV or the commercial breaks on Prime Video. Here are 2 verified fixes to the Prime Video audio out of sync.

Fix 1: Match Frame Rate Settings

Most movies on Prime Video are shot at 24 frames per second (fps). However, modern TVs and streaming sticks often default to 60fps output. When your device tries to force 24 frames into a 60-frame slot, the audio processing can drift apart from the video. We need to match the frame manually.

📌 On Firestick:

1. Go to Settings > Display & Sounds > Display.
2. Turn ON "Match Original Frame Rate".

📌 On Smart TV (Samsung/LG/Sony/...):

1. Find your picture settings
2. Turn OFF features labeled "Motion Smoothing," "TruMotion," or "Auto Motion Plus."

By doing this, you can switch the refresh rate to match the movie or stop the post-processing effects that will delay the video while the audio plays instantly.

Fix 2: The Subtitle Toggle Trick

With the introduction of ads on Prime Video, a new bug has emerged: Prime Video subtitles out of sync. This always happens when an ad plays, but the subtitle track doesn't "pause" its internal timer. To fix the problem, try the steps:

1. Pause the video immediately after the ad ends.
2. Navigate to the Subtitle/Audio menu icon.
3. Turn Subtitles OFF.
4. Wait 2 seconds, then Turn Subtitles back ON.
5. Resume playback.

It can force the app to reload the subtitle file and re-anchor it to the current video timestamp.

The Ultimate Fix: Watch Offline with KeepStreams

If you've tried all the fixes above, but the Prime Video playback problems persist, the only reasonable explanation is that the problem might be out of your control (on the Prime Video end). As I mentioned in the beginning, streaming is fragile.

Therefore, the best way to ensure a crash-free, buffer-free, smooth experience is to remove the "streaming" part entirely. If we can download videos into MP4 video files and watch Prime Video offline, these common playback errors can be prevented at the source. KeepStreams for Prime Video is born for this.

KeepStreams for Prime Video

Download Prime Video content into MP4/MKV format for unlimited offline viewing on Windows, PC, mobile, TV, and other devices.

• Download videos in original Full HD 1080p
• Support EAC3 5.1 and AAC 2.0 audio
• Use H.264 or H.265 video codec to save more space
• Detect and remove ads from downloads
• Save subtitles into SRT files or remux them into videos
• Select the languages of subtitles and audio
• Schedule downloads and save new episodes automatically
• Batch process multiple videos together
• Save up to 100 titles per day
• Free trial to download 3 videos in 30 days

 Free Trial  Free Trial

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All we need to do is 4 steps, and then we can enjoy the downloaded videos (free-to-watch titles, VOD content, or rented/purchased videos) without the Prime Video crashing, buffering, or out-of-sync problems:

This step is significant because KeepStreams works by analyzing videos you're playing in the built-in browser.

⚠️ Note: KeepStreams is intended to help you download from Prime Video for personal use only, and downloading copy-protected content is not recommended. You should take full responsibility for your behavior and respect copyright.

When the analysis is done, a pop-up window will appear for you to set download options, such as resolution, episodes, subtitles, audio, etc. Click on Download Now when the setting is done.

Go to the Downloads > Downloading to check the real-time download process. All downloaded videos are shown in the Downloads > Downloaded tab. You can click the little file icon beside each video to open the local folder where the MP4 video files are saved.

That's all! By saving videos as MPV video files, we can be totally free from the Prime Video server and avoid crashing, buffering, and sync problems easily.

Conclusion

Streaming was supposed to make our entertainment easier, but when you spend 20 minutes troubleshooting a "Something went wrong" error code on Prime Video, it feels like a step backward. Why is Prime Video buffering so much? Why does my Prime Video keep crashing? The reasons can be complex.

Hope the fixes in this post can help you resolve the problems soon. If you don't want to spend too much time on it, KeepStreams for Prime Video can be your ultimate solution to enjoy a smooth, high-quality offline viewing.