Windows 11's performance is being improved through Microsoft's ongoing Windows K2 initiative. A key part of that effort is transitioning core elements of Windows 11 to WinUI 3, the native framework of Windows.
But Microsoft is doing more than just rebuilding the Start menu and other parts of the OS using WinUI, the tech giant is improving WinUI itself. A post on GitHub details Microsoft's work to improve WinUI, which will lead to even better performance of elements rebuilt using the framework.
"Our mission is to make WinUI 3 the best native UI platform for Windows experiences and apps and performance is at the heart of that effort," says the post by software engineer Beth Pan. They later added that, "Making this a reality means delivering performance improvements at multiple levels, including within WinUI itself."
Microsoft has focused on launch time, using File Explorer and Notepad as benchmarks for performance improvements. File Explorer launch has improved in several areas thanks to changes to WinUI.
Metric | Improvement |
|---|---|
Allocations | 41% fewer |
Transient allocations | 63% fewer |
Function calls | 45% fewer |
Time spent in WinUI code | 25% reduction |
Microsoft says that we can expect to see the changes hit the development branch "soon." After that, the improvements will make their way to the winui3/main branch.
A comment by Pan expands on the importance of improving the WinUI framework alongside making other improvements:
"The approach here is we do what we can from framework side, and obv other teams in Windows also investigated and been doing work to improve overall launch perf, we connect/collaborate frequently to make sure the improvements will be end-to-end. It's a long-term commitment for fundamentals and quality."
As Pan explained, efforts to improve WinUI and move elements to the framework are being done in conjunction with other changes. Windows 11's Low Latency Profile mode improves OS performance by briefly boosting a system's CPU to max frequency for between 1 and 3 seconds. That feature drew criticism, despite similar features appearing on macOS, Linux, and other operating systems.
Windows 11 has been highly criticized for how long it takes to load core parts of the operating system. Moving those elements to WinUI, improving WinUI itself, and rolling out features like Low Latency Profile mode will result in a much snappier Windows 11.
Join us on Reddit at r/WindowsCentral to share your insights and discuss our latest news, reviews, and more.
