--- title: WinUI 3 gets real performance gains, with File Explorer... description: Microsoft's WinUI team published benchmark results showing significant performance improvements for WinUI 3, using File Explorer and Notepad as test cases. Key... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/winui-3-gets-real-performance-gains-with-file-explorer-as-the-test-case-q9mf3aulf twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: WinUI 3 gets real performance gains, with File Explorer as the test case | daily.dev og:description: Microsoft's WinUI team published benchmark results showing significant performance improvements for WinUI 3, using File Explorer and Notepad as test cases. Key... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/winui-3-gets-real-performance-gains-with-file-explorer-as-the-test-case-q9mf3aulf og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/Q9mf3AUlF.png og:image:alt: WinUI 3 gets real performance gains, with File Explorer as the test case og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # WinUI 3 gets real performance gains, with File Explorer as the test case **[Collections](https://daily.dev/sources/collections)** · 2 min read · 4 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary Microsoft's WinUI team published benchmark results showing significant performance improvements for WinUI 3, using File Explorer and Notepad as test cases. Key gains include 41% fewer memory allocations, 63% fewer transient allocations, 45% fewer function calls, and 25% less time spent in WinUI code during launch. These improvements stem from migrating File Explorer from WinUI 2 to WinUI 3 as part of the Windows K2 overhaul, with changes heading to WinAppSDK 2.x. Developer reaction is mixed — while the gains are real, WPF and UWP remain faster in several scenarios, and community frustrations persist around limited C++ support, no Python or Rust bindings, and Microsoft's own flagship apps still not using WinUI 3. The credibility gap remains a challenge for broader adoption. ## Content Microsoft's WinUI team has published benchmark results showing meaningful performance improvements for WinUI 3, using File Explorer and Notepad as their primary test cases. The numbers: 41% fewer memory allocations, 63% fewer transient allocations, 45% fewer function calls, and a 25% reduction in time spent in WinUI code during launch. The improvements come from migrating File Explorer from WinUI 2 to WinUI 3 as part of the broader Windows K2 overhaul. The changes are headed to the `winui3/main` branch and WinAppSDK 2.x where feasible, with some already expected to ship to Windows 11 users from the current development branch. Not all optimizations are automatic. Some require apps to explicitly opt in because they involve breaking changes to default control styles. Microsoft plans to flip these to opt-out by default in WinUI 3.0 or 4.0. ## Developer reaction is mixed The announcement landed with a degree of skepticism from developers who have spent years watching WinUI 3 underperform compared to older frameworks. WPF and UWP are still measurably faster in several scenarios, and the community has been pointing this out for a while. A 25% improvement in WinUI-specific overhead is real progress, but it doesn't automatically close the gap with frameworks that had a decade-plus head start on optimization. The discussion thread also surfaced some recurring frustrations: limited C++ support, no Python or Rust bindings, and the fact that many of Microsoft's own flagship apps still don't use WinUI. That last point is a credibility problem. It's hard to sell developers on a framework when the company building it hasn't fully committed to it internally. Microsoft's own developer and Windows teams have historically had friction around framework adoption, and that tension shows up in the product. File Explorer being used as a benchmark here is notable precisely because it's one of the few major Windows surfaces that has actually moved to WinUI 3. The performance work is genuinely good news. Whether it's enough to shift developer sentiment depends on whether Microsoft keeps the momentum going and starts shipping more of its own apps on the framework it's asking everyone else to adopt. ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [Microsoft tests Windows Explorer speed, performance improvements](https://daily.dev/posts/microsoft-tests-windows-explorer-speed-performance-improvements-rorlq9ojl) · BleepingComputer · 0 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#performance](https://daily.dev/tags/performance), [#microsoft](https://daily.dev/tags/microsoft), [#wpf](https://daily.dev/tags/wpf), [#winui](https://daily.dev/tags/winui) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/winui-3-gets-real-performance-gains-with-file-explorer-as-the-test-case-q9mf3aulf) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"WinUI 3 gets real performance gains, with File Explorer as the test case","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/winui-3-gets-real-performance-gains-with-file-explorer-as-the-test-case-q9mf3aulf","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/winui-3-gets-real-performance-gains-with-file-explorer-as-the-test-case-q9mf3aulf"},"datePublished":"2026-05-15T07:44:16.654Z","dateModified":"2026-05-15T07:44:56.037Z","description":"Microsoft's WinUI team published benchmark results showing significant performance improvements for WinUI 3, using File Explorer and Notepad as test cases. 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