Fullscreen vs Windowed Gaming: Which Mode is Better for Performance?

Every game lets you pick from three display modes: fullscreen, borderless, or windowed. Most people just pick one and forget about it. But the choice you make affects your input lag, the way your frames pace themselves, and the way your game itself feels to run.

The difference isn't small exclusive fullscreen can go as much as 4-12ms faster than borderless windowed. For competitive gamers, that's the difference between reacting first and being second victim. For the rest of us, it's the difference between "this feels smooth" and "there's something wrong."

In this guide, we're going to explain what each of these modes actually does under the hood, how they really perform, and how to tell which display mode is ideal for you. No jargon. Just real answers and real numbers.

Quick Answers

What's the difference between fullscreen and windowed?

Exclusive fullscreen gives your game full access to your monitor to draw onscreen. Nothing else can draw onscreen until you exit fullscreen. Borderless windowed runs your game in a window that's maximized: it's taking up your entire screen, but Windows still manages your display. Windowed mode runs your game in a resizable window, like any app.

Which is better for gaming?

It depends what you care about. Exclusive fullscreen is better for the lowest latency (4-12ms faster) in exchange for some less useful features. Borderless windowed is better for the most convenient gaming options (instant Alt+Tabbing, overlay support) in exchange for some extra latency. Choose exclusive fullscreen for the competitive games. Choose borderless for your casual gaming, and for multi-monitor or big screen setups.

Does fullscreen improve FPS?

Not really. Digital Trends' Jacob Roach tested multiple modern games — including Horizon Zero Dawn, Red Dead Redemption 2, and Black Myth: Wukong — in both fullscreen and borderless modes and found no consistent FPS difference. The reason: most modern games use the DXGI flip presentation model introduced in Windows 8, which means even "fullscreen" games are composed through the Desktop Window Manager. Exclusive fullscreen mainly offers lower latency. It reduces input lag by 4-12ms since your game talks directly to your monitor without Windows processing every single frame first. Your FPS counter may read the same, but your game feels more responsive.

What are fullscreen optimizations?

Fullscreen Optimizations is a Windows feature that changes how some games run when using fullscreen mode. Instead of running in traditional exclusive fullscreen, Windows may use a modern presentation method that behaves more like a borderless fullscreen window while still allowing the game to take advantage of fullscreen performance features.

Should I disable fullscreen optimizations?

For most players, leaving Fullscreen Optimizations enabled works well and improves convenience. It allows faster Alt-Tab switching and better compatibility with overlays, recording tools, and other desktop features.

Some competitive players prefer disabling the feature so their game runs in traditional exclusive fullscreen mode, which can remove potential interference from the Windows desktop compositor. However, the difference in latency is usually small and may not be noticeable on modern systems.

If you are optimizing for competitive play, it may be worth testing the setting both on and off to see which works best for your system.

What are windowed optimizations?

Totally different thing. Windowed optimizations is another Windows setting that speeds up borderless and windowed modes by reducing compositor overhead. This can actually reduce latency by around 8ms or so. This is different from fullscreen optimizations; you turn this on if you are not running in exclusive fullscreen. If you prefer borderless windowed for the sake of convenience, enabling this gets you as close to fullscreen responsiveness as possible.

Display modes explained

Your monitor is like a TV in your living room. In exclusive fullscreen it's like having one person with the remote. Your game has complete control. No one else can change the channel. Borderless windowed is like having a smart TV that switches between apps while it's playing a movie. Your game is taking up the entire screen, but the TV's operating system is still working away in the background. Windowed is more like watching a video on your tablet, just one app that's got to compete for your attention with any number of others.

Each mode makes its own tradeoffs in terms of performance, convenience and compatibility, there's no objective best here, and the mode you should use depends on both the game you're playing and the way you prefer to play it.

Exclusive fullscreen. In exclusive fullscreen, the game takes direct control of the display instead of sharing it with the Windows desktop compositor. Rather than rendering through the desktop compositor that manages windows, overlays, and animations, the game can present frames directly to the display using the graphics driver’s fullscreen mode. Because the game has dedicated access to the display, exclusive fullscreen can slightly reduce system overhead and may provide the lowest possible input latency in some situations. However, exclusive fullscreen also has drawbacks. Alt-Tab switching can be slower, overlays and capture software may behave differently, and multi-monitor setups can be less convenient. For this reason, many modern games use borderless fullscreen modes that provide similar performance while improving compatibility with desktop features.

Borderless windowed. Borderless windowed mode runs the game in a window that fills the entire screen. While it looks similar to fullscreen, the game is still managed by the Windows desktop compositor rather than taking exclusive control of the display. Because the desktop compositor remains active, this mode allows seamless Alt-Tab switching, better compatibility with overlays and capture software, and smoother behavior when using multiple monitors. It also works more easily with certain Windows features such as Auto HDR and Night Light. On modern systems the performance and latency difference compared to exclusive fullscreen is often small, but borderless windowed mode may introduce slightly more overhead in some situations since the game shares the display pipeline with the desktop.

Windowed mode. Runs your game in a resizable window, like any other application. You still get all the benefits of a normal window, instant Alt+Tab, overlay support, access to multiple monitors, but your game is unable to use the full width of your monitor. This mode is basically just useful for those who prefer to run their game alongside other applications that they need to see on screen at the same time.

Performance and optimizations

Fullscreen optimizations

In the early revisions of Windows 10, Microsoft added fullscreen optimizations. When a game requests exclusive fullscreen, Microsoft actually changes it in the background to a hybrid borderless windowed mode. The game thinks it is in exclusive fullscreen and Windows is actually running the display via the compositor. Microsoft did this in order to solve the old Alt+Tab issue in exclusive fullscreen, switching windows is slow and can cause your monitor to flash, but with fullscreen optimizations enabled your computer switches instantly as Windows never gave up control of your display.

When they help. Fullscreen optimizations are a nice middle ground for casual gaming. You get fast Alt+Tab, overlays that work, multi-monitor support, but still have a fullscreen look. For most people playing story games, RPGs, or casual multiplayer this is the best of all worlds.

When they hurt. For competitive gaming they add about 1-3 frames of latency, since the hybrid mode still goes through the compositor. Competitive players that want the least amount of input lag should disable fullscreen optimizations to get to true exclusive fullscreen. Some older games may also run into compatibility issues with fullscreen optimizations if a game looks or reacts oddly in fullscreen, disable this and you might see the fix.

Here is how the display modes compare regarding added latency: exclusive fullscreen adds 0ms (baseline). Fullscreen with optimizations enabled can add around 1-3 frames (the compositor's hybrid mode). Borderless windowed can add 1-3 frames (around 4-12ms at 60Hz, less as you go up). Borderless windowed with windowed optimizations reduces compositor overhead by around 8-12ms. Windowed mode adds 1-3 frames plus window management overhead.

As you go to higher refresh rates like 144Hz or 240Hz, the difference between modes gets a little better. At 240Hz each frame is only 4.2ms, so the compositor's effect is proportionally smaller. But it's still there.

Windowed optimizations

Windowed optimizations is a separate Windows setting that specifically reduces the compositor's overhead for borderless and windowed modes. This one actually can cut around 8-12ms of latency when enabled. This is different from fullscreen optimizations. Fullscreen optimizations convert exclusive fullscreen into a hybrid borderless mode. Windowed optimizations reduce how much overhead the compositor introduces if you're running in borderless or windowed mode. If you are a fan of borderless windowed for convenience's sake, enabling windowed optimizations approaches fullscreen responsiveness.

Picking and setting up your display mode

Competitive gamers. Best for you: exclusive fullscreen with fullscreen optimizations turned off. This will give you the lowest possible input lag. Choose this if you play ranked modes or in tournament, or any game where the time it takes you to actually see your opponent's reaction defines whether or not you win.

Streamers and content creators. Best for you: borderless windowed. Your streaming software is going to need to capture your game window, and exclusive fullscreen tends to mess that up. With borderless you get a cleaner capture, faster scene switching, and room to use your main screen for chat and alerts as you game.

Multi-monitor users. Best for you: borderless windowed. Exclusive fullscreen is horrible when you want to rock multi-monitors. Moving your mouse to a second screen can cause your game to minimize. In borderless windowed you can simply go across your monitors while you game.

Casual gamers. Best for you: either borderless windowed, or fullscreen with optimizations enabled. Both are going to give you a smooth gaming experience, and borderless windowed is slightly more convenient. The performance difference between the two is going to be too small for casual play to notice.

How to change your display mode

Most games will have a display mode option in their graphics or video settings. Look for "Fullscreen," "Borderless Windowed," "Borderless Fullscreen," or "Windowed." Pick the mode most important to you. Some games use different names but the options are still the same.

How to force true exclusive fullscreen

1. Right-click your game's .exe file (or the shortcut you click to launch it).

2. Click Properties.

3. Head to the Compatibility tab.

4. Check "Disable fullscreen optimizations."

5. Click Apply, then OK.

This forces true exclusive fullscreen for that individual game. You'll need to do this for each game — there's no global toggle in Windows.

How to check which mode you're running

Try Alt+Tabbing out of the game. If your screen flashes black and the switch to the desktop takes 1-3 seconds to complete, you're in true exclusive fullscreen mode. If the switch only takes a fraction of a second or is instantaneous and seamless, you're in borderless windowed mode or fullscreen with optimizations. Some games also show the mode you're running in within their UI or FPS overlay, and NVIDIA's GeForce Experience overlay shows if a game is running in exclusive fullscreen or borderless.

We started IQON because we saw the people who needed help the most were getting the worst advice. Search for "fullscreen vs borderless," and you'll find articles that say "fullscreen is always better" without any explanation of why, or guides that ignore the real-world relevance of how nice borderless windowed is for multi-monitor work and streaming.

So we started writing guides that describe the "why" before the "how." We start every single article from zero and don't assume you've read anything else, because the knowledge should be free and public and available to everyone whether you're using our app or not.