If Epic Games Launcher downloads are slow, first check Epic’s live status page, make sure the launcher’s Limit Download Speeds setting is off, and compare its displayed speed with your internet plan using the same units. If the speed repeatedly drops to zero, check whether Epic is installing or writing files to a busy drive rather than downloading. The steps below are for the Epic Games Launcher on Windows 10 and 11; menu names and paths can differ on other systems.
Check whether Epic’s download services are having problems
Open status.epicgames.com and look for incidents affecting Epic Games Store or Download/Installation, especially reports about installing or updating games. If Epic reports degraded service, wait and retry later; changing your PC’s DNS or firewall settings will not repair an Epic-side incident.
Epic’s status page reported degraded Store and Download/Installation performance on August 18, 2026, including an unresolved installation and update issue affecting some Windows 10 players. That was a dated incident, not a standing explanation for slow downloads; check the live page for current conditions.
Remove Epic’s download-speed limit
The launcher has a speed-limit setting that may be enabled intentionally to leave bandwidth for other people or devices in your home. If it is on, Epic may be limited even when other downloads are faster.
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- Open Epic Games Launcher and select the profile icon in the upper-right corner.
- Select Settings, then scroll to Download Settings.
- Clear Limit Download Speeds.
- Restart the launcher and retry the download.
Epic documents this setting and restart step in its download-speed-limit instructions. Removing the limit may make other devices feel slower if the connection is shared.
Check your connection and compare speeds correctly
Compare Mbps with MB/s
Internet plans are usually advertised in megabits per second (Mbps), while download applications commonly display megabytes per second (MB/s). There are eight bits in a byte, so the theoretical conversion is:
| Advertised connection speed | Approximate maximum in MB/s |
|---|---|
| 100 Mbps | 12.5 MB/s |
| 500 Mbps | 62.5 MB/s |
| 1 Gbps | 125 MB/s |
These are rough conversions, not promises of Epic’s actual speed. Network overhead, Wi-Fi quality, congestion, the route to Epic’s servers, server conditions and disk activity can all reduce the number. A speed test uses a different server and workload, so matching its result in Epic is not guaranteed.
Test Ethernet or another connection
- If practical, connect the PC to your router by Ethernet. A wired link is generally less vulnerable to wireless interference, but it cannot fix an ISP outage, Epic-side degradation or a slow destination drive.
- For Wi-Fi, move closer to the access point and, where signal strength is good, try a 5-GHz or 6-GHz network.
- Pause other large downloads, streaming, cloud backups and bandwidth-heavy applications while testing.
- If possible, briefly try a phone hotspot or another internet connection. If Epic works there, your home network or ISP becomes a more likely cause. A hotspot is a diagnostic test, not a recommended permanent connection.
- Compare with another large download source, but treat the comparison as a clue rather than proof: different services use different servers and routes.
If every device and service is slow, investigate the router, Wi-Fi conditions, household traffic or ISP before changing Epic-specific settings. If only Epic is affected, prioritize its status, speed limit, cache, proxy and filtering checks.
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Restart Epic and clear its Windows cache
First pause the download, then exit Epic completely: use the upward arrow in the lower-right system tray, right-click the Epic Games icon and choose Exit. Reopen the launcher and retry. Restart the PC as well if the problem persists. Restart the modem or router when other services are also slow or unstable; it is less likely to help when Epic alone is affected.
If a restart does not help, Epic’s cache instructions say to close the launcher and remove its cache folders from the Windows user profile:
- Make sure Epic is fully exited from the system tray.
- Press Windows + R, enter
%localappdata%and press Enter. - Open
EpicGamesLauncherSaved. - Delete these folders if they are present:
webcache,webcache_4147andwebcache_4430. - Reopen Epic and retry.
Delete only those cache folders, not the entire EpicGamesLauncher folder. This should not remove installed games. Cache clearing can help with stale or corrupted launcher data, connection errors and stalls, but it is not a general bandwidth upgrade. See Epic’s PC cache instructions.
Temporarily test without a VPN or proxy
A VPN routes traffic through another network and can add latency, overhead or congestion. A proxy can also interfere with launcher connections, including when it was configured outside Epic. Turn either off temporarily to test, then restore it if you need it for privacy, work or school.
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- In Windows, search for Proxy Settings and open the system settings page.
- Under Manual Proxy Setup, switch the proxy to Off for the test.
- If you use a VPN, disconnect it temporarily and retry the download.
- If Windows’ WinHTTP proxy may be misconfigured, open Command Prompt as administrator and run
netsh winhttp reset proxy.
The WinHTTP command resets that proxy configuration; do not use it if your organization requires a managed proxy without first checking with its administrator. Epic’s instructions also discuss checking environment variables such as http_proxy. Follow its proxy troubleshooting guide if the launcher still cannot connect.
Do not permanently turn off antivirus or Windows Firewall. If security software appears to block Epic, use its documented allow-list or exception process and keep protection enabled. Web filtering, HTTPS inspection and firewall rules can affect connections without being obvious.
Reset Windows networking and flush DNS
These commands can address a stale network configuration, a connection problem or DNS-resolution trouble. They do not increase the bandwidth supplied by your ISP.
- Search for Command Prompt, right-click it and choose Run as administrator.
- Run
netsh winsock reset. - Restart the computer.
- Open Command Prompt as administrator again and run each command:
ipconfig /release
ipconfig /renew
ipconfig /flushdnsThe Winsock command resets the Windows Winsock catalog and requires the restart. The ipconfig commands release and renew the local DHCP lease, then clear cached DNS entries. Relaunch Epic and test again. Epic lists these steps in its Windows network troubleshooting instructions.
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Try a public DNS only if simpler steps fail
Changing DNS can help when your current resolver is failing or returning problematic results; it does not create more bandwidth or guarantee a faster route to Epic’s download servers. Epic lists Google Public DNS as an option:
| Address type | Preferred | Alternate |
|---|---|---|
| IPv4 | 8.8.8.8 |
8.8.4.4 |
| IPv6 | 2001:4860:4860:0:0:0:0:8888 |
2001:4860:4860:0:0:0:0:8844 |
Before changing DNS, record the existing settings so you can restore them. On Windows 11, the path documented by Epic is Settings → Network & Internet → Ethernet or Wi-Fi → Edit beside DNS Server assignment. Set the drop-down to Manual, enter the addresses for the protocol you use, and select Save. If connectivity gets worse, return to that screen and restore your original setting, including automatic DNS if that was selected. Epic’s public DNS instructions include the Google addresses above; no DNS provider is fastest for every location or ISP.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Check filtered or managed networks
School, university and workplace networks may block domains the launcher needs for accounts, downloads or its CDN. Ask the network administrator to check Epic’s official server and domain allow-list rather than adding a copied third-party list. Download-related entries on Epic’s list include:
https://epicgames-download1.akamaized.nethttps://download.epicgames.comhttps://download2.epicgames.comhttps://download3.epicgames.comhttps://download4.epicgames.comhttps://fastly-download.epicgames.com/
On a home network, look instead for router-level filtering, parental controls, DNS filtering or security-software rules. Ordinary home users generally do not need to add every Epic domain manually to a firewall.
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Check whether installation or storage is the bottleneck
A low or intermittent network reading does not always mean the internet connection has stopped working. Epic may be verifying files, decompressing update data, applying a patch or writing files to disk. A slow or busy drive, a background scan, or insufficient free space can make the process appear stalled.
- Press Ctrl + Shift + Esc to open Task Manager.
- Watch Network, Disk and CPU activity while Epic’s progress changes.
- If disk activity is near 100% as network activity falls, the drive or installation work may be limiting progress.
- Check that the destination drive has free space, and close other demanding applications using it.
- If available, use a healthy internal SSD rather than a failing, external or heavily burdened mechanical drive.
Moving a game to an SSD can help when storage is the bottleneck; it will not fix a slow ISP, an Epic service problem or weak Wi-Fi. Security software may also scan files as they are written, so use its documented controls rather than broadly disabling protection.
Try pause and resume; avoid unsupported tweaks
As a low-risk test, pause the download for several seconds and resume it. If speed recovers briefly and then collapses again, continue with the status, network, proxy, cache and disk checks instead of repeatedly cycling the download. Pause/resume is not a guaranteed fix.
Community guides sometimes suggest editing the launcher’s Engine.ini file, but Epic’s official slow-download guidance does not list those edits as a primary remedy, and community results are inconsistent. Avoid arbitrary changes to chunk, timeout, retry or throttle values. If you choose to experiment, back up the file first and remove the changes if the launcher behaves worse.
When to contact Epic support
Use Epic’s slow-download troubleshooting page and contact support if downloads still fail after the relevant checks, especially when the issue persists across more than one connection, no matching service incident is listed, or a particular game or update repeatedly produces an installation error. Include the game name, error message, Windows version, whether another connection changes the result, and what troubleshooting you already tried. If Epic’s status page lists an active incident, monitor that incident and retry after service recovers.
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