buttery smooth

English

Adjective

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

1. (computing, video games) Having a high refresh rate so that the subjective experience does not include flickers or pauses as the video changes frames.
   • 2008, Bernard Perron, Mark J.P. Wolf, The Video Game Theory Reader 2, page xii:

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

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

     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.

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

     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, David Snyder, Matthew Wilhelm Kapell, Speedrunning: Interviews with the Quickest Gamers:

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

   • 2021, Paul Jones, Game Artist: The Ultimate Career Guide:

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