How To Fix Epic Games Slow Download Speed

It is frustrating when your internet speed is fine, but the Epic Games launcher is barely crawling. This usually happens because the launcher is improperly throttling itself or struggling to communicate with the download servers.

Why this happens

The Epic launcher often caps connections by default or uses outdated DNS configurations that struggle to route data efficiently. Clearing temporary cache files and forcing more simultaneous connections usually clears the bottleneck.

Steps

1. 01
   Open the Epic Games launcher, click your profile icon, and go to Settings.
2. 02
   Under the Downloads and Installs section, set all values for 'Limit Download Speeds' to 0 to disable throttling; if that fails, manually set them to 10000.
3. 03
   Fully close the Epic launcher, ensuring it is not running in your system tray.
4. 04
   Press Win+R, type %localappdata%, and press Enter to open your local folder.
5. 05
   Navigate to EpicGamesLauncher/Saved and delete any folders named 'webcache' followed by a string of numbers.
6. 06
   Go into the Config/Windows folder, open Engine.ini with Notepad, and paste the following snippet to force better connection handling: [HTTP] HttpTimeout=10 HttpConnectionTimeout=10 HttpReceiveTimeout=10 HttpSendTimeout=10 [Portal.BuildPatch] ChunkDownloads=3 ChunkRetries=20 RetryTime=0.5
7. 07
   Save the file, then open Control Panel and navigate to Network and Sharing Center to click Change adapter settings.
8. 08
   Right-click your active connection, select Properties, open Internet Protocol Version 4, and set your DNS to 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4.
9. 09
   Restart the Epic Games launcher and resume your download to see the speed increase.

Still not working?

If your speeds remain low, check if your router has Quality of Service (QoS) settings enabled, as these can deprioritize game launcher traffic. Additionally, disable any third-party VPNs or antivirus firewalls that might be inspecting the traffic stream, which often slows down high-bandwidth downloads.

Frequently asked questions

Will deleting webcache folders delete my games?

No, deleting these folders only clears temporary interface data and metadata. Your installed games will remain completely intact.

Is using Google DNS (8.8.8.8) safe?

Yes, it is a secure and standard public DNS service that is often faster and more reliable than the default DNS provided by many internet service providers.