Disable Hardware Acceleration In Google Chrome, Firefox, Opera and Vivaldi

Most modern computers come with a separate Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) which is used to process graphics at a faster pace. This enables the CPU to be dedicated for other computations. Hardware acceleration is a feature which makes use of GPU processing in addition to the CPU to make tasks perform at a faster speed.

Most modern browsers, including Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Opera, Vivaldi and other Chrome and Firefox based browsers enable hardware acceleration by default. This allows loading graphics and videos to enhance the browsing experience.

Sometimes, hardware acceleration makes videos load in a jerky manner. In this case, you can easily disable hardware acceleration in your browser to open videos smoothly. Please go through disabling hardware acceleration for each browser one by one.

You can also enable or disable hardware acceleration system-wide in Windows 10.

Disable Hardware Acceleration in Google Chrome

First, you can check which components of Chrome are using hardware acceleration and turn them off as per your need.

To check which components of Chrome are using hardware acceleration, go to Chrome and open the following URL:

chrome://gpu

This will show all the graphics related status of the browser.

19_06_55-chrome___gpu

To disable hardware acceleration, open the following URL in Chrome:

chrome://settings/?search=Use+hardware+acceleration+when+available

Toggle the hardware settings button to Disable.

19_10_20-Google-Chrome-Settings-for-Hardware-Acceleration

Disable Hardware Acceleration in Mozilla Firefox

In Firefox 55, Mozilla has introduced a new performance section under settings which lets you control performance settings like no. of content processes allowed to be created and used for hardware acceleration when available. You can disable hardware acceleration from there. For your ease, here are the steps involved for disabling hardware acceleration in Firefox 55+:

  1. Open Firefox and select Options under the Firefox Menu
    disable hardware acceleration in firefox 55
  2. At the end of the General tab, uncheck “Use recommended performance settings” (keyboard shortcut = Alt + U). This will open up more options under Performance.
    disable hardware acceleration in firefox 55 performance settings
  3. Uncheck the “Use hardware acceleration when available” (Keyboard shortcut = Alt + R)

This should disable hardware acceleration in Firefox. You may need to restart Firefox for the changes to take effect.

Sometimes the 3D graphics and videos will not work even after disabling hardware acceleration in Firefox. In that case, you will need to disable WebGL as well. Here are the steps for disabling WebGL:

  1. Open Firefox and write about:config in Firefox address bar.
  2. Click I accept the risk! button to continue to about:config page.
  3. In the search box at the top of the page, search webgl.disabled.
  4. Double-click webgl.disabled to switch it to true.
    disable webgl in about config firefox
  5. Restart Firefox for the changes to take effect.

Disable Hardware Acceleration in Opera

Opera is also a popular browser which is especially useful when laptop battery is draining out. Opera has a feature to save battery while using the browser on battery for better laptop performance. You can also disable hardware acceleration in Opera if videos are distorting or not running fine. Just follow the steps below to disable hardware acceleration in Opera:

  1. Open Opera browser and go to Settings from Opera menu
  2. From the left hand pane, select Browser
  3. From the right hand pane, uncheck “Use hardware acceleration when available” under System.
    disable hardware acceleration in Opera
  4. Restart the browser for the changes to take effect.

Disable Hardware Acceleration in Vivaldi

Vivaldi is a new promising browser with many features which aren’t available in popular browsers like Google Chrome and Firefox. It is based on Chromium but boasts a lot more features. Although based on Chromium, Vivaldi gives a lot of customization options in the settings window. Unfortunately, enabling or disabling hardware acceleration in Vivaldi is not as easy to find as in Chrome or Firefox. However, after following the steps below, you’ll be able to disable hardware acceleration in Vivaldi without any issues.

To disable hardware acceleration in Vivaldi, follow the steps below:

  1. Open Vivaldi and type the following in the address bar::
    vivaldi://flags/#disable-accelerated-2d-canvas
  2. Click on the Disable link below Accelerated 2D Canvas to disable hardware acceleration.
    15_55_58-vivaldi___flags_#disable-accelerated-2d-canvas
  3. Restart Vivaldi for the changes to take effect.

Hopefully this will help you disable or enable hardware acceleration for your browsers. We have covered the major browsers. Almost all other browsers will have their settings similar to one of these. So it will be easier for you to change the settings comfortably. If you have any issues with hardware acceleration settings, please do let us know through the comments below.

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Usman Khurshid is a seasoned IT Pro with over 15 years of experience in the IT industry. He has experience in everything from IT support, helpdesk, sysadmin, network admin, and cloud computing. He is also certified in Microsoft Technologies (MCTS and MCSA) and also Cisco Certified Professional in Routing and Switching.

14 comments

  • Marcela
    Marcela

    Thank you very much, it is working !

  • jason bourne
    jason bourne

    The vivaldi one isnt working for me :(

    • Usman Khurshid
      A
      Usman Khurshid

      Vivaldi 2 has been released with different settings. To disable hardware acceleration in Vivaldi 2, you can go to File menu –> Tools –> Settings –> Webpages –> Un-check “Use hardware acceleration when available”.

  • Marsha

    This is CRAZY!!!!!

  • M. Varle
    M. Varle

    Why cannot Firefox fix it so that the puzzles can be played in full screen

  • B Wyson
    B Wyson

    I miss the puzzles. How can I get them back?

  • Timothy
    Timothy

    No problem until the adobe update. Now problems. Maybe adobe is the problem.
    I did not upgrade adobe on my standby computer and the puzzles play great on it.

    • Usman Khurshid
      A
      Usman Khurshid

      Yes you need to make sure you are running the latest version of Adobe Flash Player for playing the puzzles.

  • Jeffrey Stone
    Jeffrey Stone

    Firefox 56.0.1 64 bit. Both suggestions did not work. Neither changing hardware acceleration nor the webgl.disabled would make the pieces move in fullscreen. At the moment it is not possible to play in fullscreen.

  • Frahan

    For Google Chrome, your link does not work when I click on it but if I open new tab, copy the link URL and paste it there, it works fine.

    • Usman Khurshid
      A
      Usman Khurshid

      If you want to browse through the settings, you can follow the steps below:

      Open Google Chrome.
      Click Customize and Control Google Chrome –> Settings.
      Go to Show Advanced Settings and look for System section.
      Uncheck “Use hardware acceleration when available” and restart Chrome.

      This should be it.

  • GALLET

    c’est écrit en anglais je ne comprends pas

  • Jon Doe
    Jon Doe

    WOW this was useful especially the Vivaldi one. I had to search the Internet to find out that vivaldi does not provide any direct way of disabling hardware acceleration. I’m pretty astonished on this fact after seeing the detailed settings of Vivaldi.

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