Gaming tech terms explained: frame rate, ping, input lag and more
The technical words that appear in settings menus, reviews and complaints about lag, translated into plain English.
Games run on hardware and networks, and when something feels off — a stutter, a delay, an opponent who seems to teleport — the explanation usually involves one of a small set of technical terms. You do not need to be technical to understand them, and knowing them makes settings menus far less intimidating.
How smooth the picture is
Frame rate is how many images a game draws each second, measured in frames per second (fps). Refresh rate is how many times a screen updates each second, measured in hertz. When the two fall out of step you may see screen tearing. Field of view is how much of the game world fits on screen. Ray tracing simulates light realistically at a performance cost, and upscaling draws the game at a lower resolution and enlarges it to save power.
Delay and responsiveness
Input lag is the delay between pressing a button and seeing the result on screen; TVs often reduce it in a game mode. Online, ping measures how long data takes to travel to the server and back, and packet loss means some of that data never arrives.
How online games stay in sync
Netcode is the general term for how a game keeps players in sync. Rollback netcode is a technique, popular in fighting games, that predicts inputs and corrects mistakes quickly. Tick rate is how often a server updates the game state, and a dedicated server is one run by the developer rather than a player’s machine.
Playing across devices
Crossplay lets people on different platforms play together, and cross-progression carries your progress between devices. Both can usually be switched on or off in settings.
Performance problems are rarely caused by one thing. A slow connection, an overloaded console or the wrong TV mode can all feel similar, so checking a few of these settings in turn is usually the quickest fix.
Every tech & performance entry
- CrossplayCrossplay lets people on different platforms, such as consoles, PC and phones, play together in the same online matches.
- Cross-progressionCross-progression lets you carry your save, unlocks and purchases between different devices by linking them to one account.
- Dedicated serverA dedicated server is a computer whose only job is to host online matches, rather than one of the players’ devices doing it.
- Field of view (FOV)Field of view is how much of the game world you can see on screen at once, usually measured as an angle in degrees.
- Frame rateFrame rate is how many separate images a game draws each second, measured in frames per second (fps); higher usually looks and feels smoother.
- Input lagInput lag is the delay between pressing a button and seeing the result on screen.
- NetcodeNetcode is the part of a game’s programming that handles online play, keeping every player’s version of the match in sync.
- Packet lossPacket loss happens when some of the small pieces of data sent between your device and the game server never arrive.
- PingPing is the time, in milliseconds, that data takes to travel from your device to a game server and back.
- Ray tracingRay tracing is a graphics technique that simulates how light travels and bounces to create more realistic lighting, reflections and shadows.
- Refresh rateRefresh rate is how many times per second a screen updates its picture, measured in hertz (Hz).
- Rollback netcodeRollback netcode predicts an opponent’s inputs so online play feels instant, then quietly corrects the game if the prediction was wrong.
- Screen tearingScreen tearing is a visual glitch where parts of two different frames appear on screen at once, creating a horizontal split.
- Tick rateTick rate is how many times per second an online game’s server updates the state of the match.
- UpscalingUpscaling renders a game at a lower resolution and then enlarges the image to fit a higher-resolution screen, saving performance.