Microsoft testing native Windows 11 app performance with impressive early results

Microsoft is improving Windows 11 performance via WinUI 3 with optimizations aimed at faster app launches and more.

Earlier this year, Microsoft revealed its plan on how it is going to make an active effort to improve the performance of Windows 11 and its various elements. Some of these have already started landing too; in fact the company is even making progress elsewhere like in the case of PowerToys that could also indirectly help Windows perform better.

The Redmond giant has been working on a plan internally known as "K2" with the aim of bettering everything on Windows 11. And this isn't just limited to performance and usability improvements either.

The company is also making changes so that it can rely more on hardware; for example it recently introduced a new feature called "low latency profile" (LLP) that will use the processor's boost clock speed more efficiently, and the good news is it is clearly showing improvement. This will also help Windows 11 with AMD's upcoming performance-enhancing CPPC feature known as "highest frequency".

With all of this going on, Microsoft earlier today announced a series of performance improvements that it has been working on for WinUI 3, the native Windows UI framework, as the company works to further improve the snappiness of its desktop OS. Recently a senior Microsoft exec had confirmed Windows 11 is going "100% native" it looks like the company is busy doing just that.

In a discussion posted on GitHub, the WinUI team says the effort is focused on making the transition from WinUI 2 to WinUI 3 to assure the latter is a "leap forward" with a “clear win for performance.”

As such Microsoft says it has been benchmarking performance using File Explorer and Notepad to further improve launch times. The early results from File Explorer testing are showing some pretty impressive results with reductions in resource usage, including 41% fewer allocations, 63% fewer transient allocations, and 45% fewer function calls. The company also notes a 25% decrease in the time spent on WinUI code during the app's launch.

Microsoft says the changes will soon move from the development branch into the main WinUI 3 branch, with some improvements also planned for WinAppSDK 2.x releases where feasible. The company has acknowledged that certain optimizations may introduce breaking changes, though developers and users alike will initially be able to opt in selectively. With the recent criticism it faced over LLP, it is good to see Microsoft also making this active effort to further improve its software instead of just relying on faster hardware.

Source: Microsoft GitHub (spotted by WindowsCentral)

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Posted Thursday 14 May 2026 at 7:17 am AEST (my time).

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