Can a VPN increase internet speed instead of reducing it?

YES, IF YOUR INTERNET SERVICE PROVIDER INTENTIONALLY THROTTLES SPECIFIC TRAFFIC.

Under normal conditions, a tunnel slightly reduces speed due to encryption. However, during artificial shaping (bandwidth limits on streaming, torrents, or video hosting), encryption hides the traffic type and restores your connection's actual maximum capacity.

The Mechanics of Bypassing ISP Throttling

ISPs analyze network protocols using DPI and forcefully throttle bandwidth for heavy content to reduce network load. When traffic is encrypted inside a VPN, the ISP only sees a monolithic encrypted stream heading to a single server and cannot selectively throttle specific services.

How to Check for Throttling

Compare speed test results on a neutral test versus a specialized video streaming service (e.g., Fast.com)
Enable a modern protocol like WireGuard or IKEv2 to minimize processing delays
Connect to the nearest server with the lowest ping and rerun the bandwidth test