Fix Discord Screen Share Black Screen (Game Streaming)

Updated: 11/29/2025

You hop into a call to stream a movie or show your gameplay to friends. They can hear the audio perfectly, but they scream: 'It's just a black screen!'. You see the video fine, but they see nothing. This happens because of DRM (Copyright Protection) or a graphics driver conflict where Discord cannot 'hook' into the video layer of the specific app you are sharing.

Table of Contents

Method 1: Disable Hardware Acceleration (Browser)

If you are trying to stream Netflix, Hulu, or YouTube, browsers hide the video layer to prevent piracy. You must turn this off.

Step 1: Browser Settings

In Chrome/Edge, go to Settings > System.

Step 2: Turn Off

Toggle 'Use graphics acceleration when available' to OFF.

Step 3: Relaunch

Restart the browser. Now, when you stream the window in Discord, the copyright black box will be gone.

Method 2: Run as Administrator

If streaming a Game (like Valorant or GTA), Discord needs admin rights to capture the fullscreen video.

  • Close Discord fully.
  • Right-click the Discord shortcut.
  • Select Run as Administrator.
  • Try streaming the game again.

Method 3: Switch to 'Screen' vs 'Application'

Discord lets you share a specific 'Application Window' or your entire 'Screen 1'.

The Fix: If sharing the 'App' shows a black screen, switch to sharing 'Screen 1'. This captures everything on your monitor raw, bypassing the application hook that is failing.