buttery smooth

adjective

Having a high refresh rate so that the subjective experience does not include flickers or pauses as the video changes frames.

Meanings

adjectivebuttery smooth (comparative more buttery smooth, superlative most buttery smooth)

comparative more buttery smooth · superlative most buttery smooth

  1. computer graphicsHaving a high refresh rate so that the subjective experience does not include flickers or pauses as the video changes frames.

    Every game has a target frame rate to hit so that the gaming experience is buttery smooth.

    2021, Paul Jones, Game Artist: The Ultimate Career Guide
    4 more examples

    Today I hear gamers using the words “buttery smooth” to describe the effect of high refresh rates.

    2008, Bernard Perron, Mark J.P. Wolf, The Video Game Theory Reader 2, page xii

    In today's parlance, Rosenthal's Space Wars was “buttery smooth” full frames presented at 30 frames a second, full frames containing glowing sticks of light that you felt you could touch.

    2012, Mark J. P. Wolf, Before the Crash: Early Video Game History, page 141

    One technique for buttery smooth footage is to edit high frame rate (60 or 120 frames per second) footage to play back in slow motion by changing the frame rate to 24 or 30 frames per second.

    2017, Jordan Hetrick, GoPro KARMA: How To Use The GoPro Karma Drone

    In addition, thanks to its highly-optimized game engine Doom ran buttery smooth even on the primitive PCs of the era.

    2017, David Snyder, Matthew Wilhelm Kapell, Speedrunning: Interviews with the Quickest Gamers
Cite this entry
APA

buttery smooth. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/buttery%20smooth

MLA

“buttery smooth.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/buttery%20smooth. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “buttery smooth,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/buttery%20smooth.

Source: buttery smooth on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.