input lag

Definition

Input lag is the total delay from a physical input (mouse click, keyboard press, controller stick move) to its visible on-screen effect. It is the sum of peripheral polling, OS event handling, game engine processing, render queue, and display response time. Competitive setups minimize each step: 1000 Hz polling mice, low-input-lag monitors, and engine-level optimizations.

Example

"My new monitor has 2 ms input lag versus 12 ms on the old one." The display refresh and response chain shaved 10 ms off click-to-photon.

Related terms

• frame time
• FPS
• tick rate
• latency