What's exactly up with download speeds on Xbox?

Stafford

Stafford

Member
Today I've been downloading several games on Xbox, some games from GP, some games I own, some are Gold games and so on.

I had begun with Oblivion Remastered with downloaded at like 500Mbps, which I'm very happy with. Then some other games like Disney Speedstorm started downloading and it would jump from 500 to like 50Mbps, go up to 80 and back to 50 again. And it kept doing this for all the other games.

And it ended with Battletoads which had a download speed of like 500Mbps. Do games offered on GP for some reason download way faster than games I own in my library, whether they are bought or Games with Gold games?

I wish it would be consistent, it's crazy how for one game it goes up to 700Mbps sometimes even, and for others can't even reach 100. Why is this?
 
I have a similar issue with certain games on steam, on steam I think it is based on games that compress the download data.

So maybe it is something similar on Xbox. Like if Disney Speedstorm is compressed to save data on the download, the download might have to slow, or even stop while your Xbox catches up to uncompress the data it has downloaded. Just a guess based on my experience on pc though. iirc PS4 I think had a kind of similar issue on certain games, and particularly patches, but instead of doing it throughout the download, it would download at full speed, then do all the unpacking at once at the end.
 
the Xbox installs games while they download, so it can sometimes happen that the way the files are structured leads to phases where the system is decompressing and installing files. while the system noves large amounts of data, it can't also download tons of data at max speed. for one due to the CPU resources given to the OS being limited, and of course the SSD speed being limited.
 
Last edited:
My PS5 is WAAAAY faster than my Series X -- even with an ethernet cable. But I've heard others say the opposite, so I don't have an answer, I'm afraid.
 
It's the same for gamepass game downloads on PC. I get 10-18 Mbps on the Xbox app, but get 40+ through steam, epic, gog, etc.

People used to say you could fix it on PC by downloading from the Microsoft store instead of the Xbox app but that has never made any difference for me.
 
I downloaded Oblivion on Gamepass PC at my full 500mbit download yesturday.
I remember Xbox the console would auto half my full speed and reduce it to a 10'th of full speed if I was playing a game while downloading even if the game was a single player no online game.
 
they throttle the hell out of it since day1, day/night difference compared to ps5 or steam
because you know ms being the poor startup with limited resources and all
 
Last edited:
Stafford said:
I had begun with Oblivion Remastered with downloaded at like 500Mbps, which I'm very happy with. Then some other games like Disney Speedstorm started downloading and it would jump from 500 to like 50Mbps, go up to 80 and back to 50 again. And it kept doing this for all the other games
Click to expand...
They're probably prioritizing Oblivion over other games.
 
Thanks for the replies people. It's annoying, but ah well.

What is also annoying is when after a game has finished downloading and installing it starts to say "finishing things up" this took irritatingly long for Oblivion and I could swear that this finishing things up thingy has started appearing since like last year or the year before it? It's pretty annoying too.
 
Did someone try using the landline while you were downloading? That's grounds for expulsion from the family tbf.

I have experienced similar throughout the years and dont know the answer. On Steam, sometimes simply pausing and restarting the download helps it kick in, other times switching which drive the download is going to can fix it, other times nothing works. Could be a server issue or maybe some games have less priority than others?
 
I've always figured it depends on server load more than your connection. I've downloaded games late at night in the Pacific time zone and can hit over 600mbps. During peak hours it will slow down to 200-400mbps range. It can get even lower if you are downloading a highly anticipated newly released game. I personally haven't seen much difference when using Steam, as it tends to behave in a similar manner. At least during the few times where I was really paying attention.
 
Last edited:
ye my speeds have been ass these last 2 weeks I even paused it and got max speed on steam so idk wtf is going at xbox. just tried to start ff9 download and it wouldnt even start.
 
Last edited:
My kids PS5 and Series X are side by side on the same shelf, about 10 feet away from the 1Gps wi-fi connection. PS5 tops out around 650mbs and Xbox around 525mbs. I always chocked it up to local Xbox/PS server speeds. 🤷‍♂️ ISP speed tests done both before and after are always in the 930mbs - 970mbs range which I consistently hit on my PC using Wi-Fi6.
 
Last edited:
Download speeds on Xbox and PlayStation can't exceed 1GB, but rarely ever reach that height. Most of the time they are around half that at best, and often much lower.
 
Other than when Oblivion dropped yesterday and I was getting stretches of 50~100Mbps for a while, both XB and PS seem to maximize my meager 300Mbps connection, haven't noticed any persistent issues.
 
Stafford said:
Today I've been downloading several games on Xbox, some games from GP, some games I own, some are Gold games and so on.

I had begun with Oblivion Remastered with downloaded at like 500Mbps, which I'm very happy with. Then some other games like Disney Speedstorm started downloading and it would jump from 500 to like 50Mbps, go up to 80 and back to 50 again. And it kept doing this for all the other games.

And it ended with Battletoads which had a download speed of like 500Mbps. Do games offered on GP for some reason download way faster than games I own in my library, whether they are bought or Games with Gold games?

I wish it would be consistent, it's crazy how for one game it goes up to 700Mbps sometimes even, and for others can't even reach 100. Why is this?
Click to expand...
Are you sure you didn't start a game? The Xbox throttles when a game is running in background.
Xbox download speeds go up to 800mbit on my side. PS5 maxes out at about 300 (everything cabled).

But yes, both networks are improvable, especially as they get also paid for network services.
 
Last edited:
Most providers will be delivering content via a CDN (Content Deliivery Network) which is just large cache servers at regional exit node points close to ISPs etc.

They newest titles will be "hot" in the cache with the fastest connections and storage. Older titles will be on colder storage that needs to be copied in.
 
Downloading Oblivion last night sucked. Even with wired connection I was getting very inconsistent speeds and for about 40 mins the DL would slow to like 20 mbps and then stop.

Today I downloaded stalker 2 at like 600mb plus
 
Hollowpoint5557 said:
My kids PS5 and Series X are side by side on the same shelf, about 10 feet away from the 1Gps wi-fi connection. PS5 tops out around 650mbs and Xbox around 525mbs. I always chocked it up to local Xbox/PS server speeds. 🤷‍♂️ ISP speed tests done both before and after are always in the 930mbs - 970mbs range which I consistently hit on my PC using Wi-Fi6.
Click to expand...
There's also the hardware to consider. The wifi chip on the base PS5 is not the best. I would get anywhere between 400-600mbps. On a PS5 pro, I easily get 800-1000 with an identical network setup.
 
Allandor said:
Are you sure you didn't start a game? The Xbox throttles when a game is running in background.
Xbox download speeds go up to 800mbit on my side. PS5 maxes out at about 300 (everything cabled).

But yes, both networks are improves me, especially as they get also paid for network services.
Click to expand...

Yep, I always make sure to suspend my game via the queue section. That should do it, right?

Plus, one game downloads at max speed, the next game starts and it's super slow and all the while I've been sitting at the dashboard not doing anything.
 
I still have no idea why the fuck Xbox consoles need to throttle download speeds while playing a game in 2025.
 
TheMan said:
Downloading Oblivion last night sucked. Even with wired connection I was getting very inconsistent speeds and for about 40 mins the DL would slow to like 20 mbps and then stop.

Today I downloaded stalker 2 at like 600mb plus
Click to expand...

I think the Oblivion thing was genuinely the servers being hammered for the game.
 
Killer8 said:
I still have no idea why the fuck Xbox consoles need to throttle download speeds while playing a game in 2025.
Click to expand...
It only seems to throttle for me if I'm playing a game when I'm connected via WiFi. It's fine for me via Ethernet.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

So what's next on the Xbox chopping block?
2
96
192
ToadMan replied
What exactly is the state of Xbox Series now & going forward?
2 3
121
6K
Unknown Soldier replied
Does Steam Deck limit Steam download speeds? My limit seems to be….
22
1K
CrimsonTide replied
MS shares new Xbox app mock up with a “Steam” tab
2 3 4 5
242
14K
Orbital2060 replied
Xbox April Update: Buy Games with the Xbox App on Mobile, Stream Your Own Game on Console, and More
17
1K
LordCBH replied
Top Bottom