flutter / flutter/flutter

Windows app significantly slower when impeller enabled (Gone when on skia)

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#191,353 18 comments 4 reactions 0 assignees View on GitHub
e: impeller engine from: performance template P2 platform-windows team-engine triaged-engine
Dominant language
Dart
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Description

### Steps to reproduce

After enabling impeller by updating to flutter 3.47.0 my windows application is noticeably slower.

When disabling impeller using: `--no-enable-impeller` my app runs like normal.

### Code sample

(edit gaaclarke: another use supplied a reproduction in https://github.com/flutter/flutter/issues/191353#issuecomment-5355205570)

### Performance profiling on master channel

- [x] The issue still persists on the master channel

### Timeline Traces

no idea how to collect this

### Video demonstration

Video demonstration (Impeller)

https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/5b374f60-7513-4f68-97de-d8ea411534dd

Video demonstration (Skia)

https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/ef026fb6-104e-4bbb-8968-92a5f97b4905

### What target platforms are you seeing this bug on?

Windows

### OS/Browser name and version | Device information

Image

Image

### Does the problem occur on emulator/simulator as well as on physical devices?

Unknown

### Is the problem only reproducible with Impeller?

Yes

### Logs

_No response_

### Flutter Doctor output

Doctor output

```console
[√] Flutter (Channel master, 3.48.0-1.0.pre-292, on Microsoft Windows [Version 10.0.26200.9106], locale en-BE) [4.2s]
• Flutter version 3.48.0-1.0.pre-292 on channel master at C:\Users\xxx\fvm\versions\master
• Upstream repository https://github.com/flutter/flutter.git
• Framework revision 65dec05eee (67 minutes ago), 2026-08-19 12:16:32 +0000
• Engine revision 65dec05eee
• Dart version 3.14.0 (build 3.14.0-143.0.dev)
• DevTools version 2.61.0-dev.0
• Feature flags: enable-web, enable-linux-desktop, enable-macos-desktop, enable-windows-desktop, enable-android, enable-ios,
cli-animations, enable-native-assets, enable-record-use, enable-swift-package-manager, omit-legacy-version-file,
enable-lldb-debugging, enable-uiscene-migration, enable-riscv64

[√] Windows Version (Windows 11 or higher, 25H2, 2009) [1,568ms]

[√] Android toolchain - develop for Android devices (Android SDK version 36.1.0) [2.6s]
• Android SDK at C:\Users\xxx\AppData\Local\Android\sdk
• Emulator version 36.3.3.0 (build_id 14204996) (CL:N/A)
• Platform android-36, build-tools 36.1.0
! Multiple adb binaries found. This can cause conflicts and device detection issues:
- C:\Users\xxx\AppData\Local\Android\Sdk\platform-tools\adb.exe
- C:\xxx\scrcpy-win64-v3.1\adb.exe
• Java binary at: C:\Program Files\Android\Android Studio\jbr\bin\java
This is the JDK bundled with the latest Android Studio installation on this machine.
To manually set the JDK path, use: `flutter config --jdk-dir="path/to/jdk"`.
• Java version OpenJDK Runtime Environment (build 21.0.8+-14196175-b1038.72)
• All Android licenses accepted.

[√] Chrome - develop for the web [225ms]
• Chrome at C:\Program Files\Google\Chrome\Application\chrome.exe

[√] Visual Studio - develop Windows apps (Visual Studio Community 2022 17.14.18 (October 2025)) [223ms]
• Visual Studio at C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio\2022\Community
• Visual Studio Community 2022 version 17.14.36616.10
• Windows 10 SDK version 10.0.26100.0

[√] Connected device (2 available) [513ms]
• Windows (desktop) • windows • windows-x64 • Microsoft Windows [Version 10.0.26200.9106]
• Chrome (web) • chrome • web-javascript • Google Chrome 150.0.7871.101

[√] Network resources [497ms]
• All expected network resources are available.

• No issues found!
```

Contributor guide

Open the contributing guide

Research direction

Start with the supplied Windows reproduction and compare performance with Impeller enabled versus `--no-enable-impeller`. Run the reproduction on the master channel, collect the missing timeline traces, and use the videos and Flutter Doctor output as context. Done means identifying the Impeller-related source of the slowdown and demonstrating that the Windows app returns to comparable performance without disabling Impeller.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
dart
Domain
desktop, performance
Issue type
Bug
Difficulty
4/5
Estimated time
3-5 days
Activity status
Active
Clarity
Mostly clear
Newbie friendliness
42/100

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