To manage dynamic adjustment of the refresh rate of a computer display, the operating system defines at least two playback modes: one or more custom modes that can be selected by applications, and a standard mode which is a default setting for the system that can be expected by applications. The operating system provides an application programming interface that enables an application to request using a custom mode. If approved to use the custom mode, then the application presents frames for display based on the custom mode. The operating system stores timing data for each buffered frame indicating how to play the frame in both standard mode and the custom mode. If a transition back to the standard mode occurs, the operating system uses the timing data to properly present frames of video until the application stops generating frames of video in the custom mode.