How to enable or disable hardware acceleration in a browser

Updated: 07/31/2022 by Computer Hope
Internet browsers

Hardware acceleration can be useful for offloading tasks to different hardware devices that the CPU (Central Processing Unit) would otherwise handle, thus, improving performance. However, not all pages and sites are well optimized to support hardware acceleration, and using this feature may actually slow down your computer.

To learn how to enable or disable hardware acceleration in an Internet browser, select from the list below and follow the instructions.

Google Chrome

Google Chrome logo

Follow these steps to enable or disable hardware acceleration in Google Chrome.

  1. Open Google Chrome.
  2. Click the Chrome menu icon icon in the upper-right corner.
  3. Select Settings from the drop-down menu.

Chrome settings selector

  1. In the menu on the left side of the window, click System.

System selector

  1. In the middle of the window, under System, click the toggle switch next to Use hardware acceleration when available to enable or disable hardware acceleration.

Hardware acceleration toggle switch in Chrome.

  1. Once you've made your change, click the Relaunch button in Chrome. button.

Mozilla Firefox

Firefox logo

Follow these steps to enable or disable hardware acceleration in Firefox.

  1. Open Firefox.
  2. Click the Firefox menu icon icon.
  3. Select Settings from the drop-down menu.
  4. On the left side of the window, make sure the General tab is selected.

General selector

  1. In the middle section of the window, scroll down to the Performance section, and click the box next to Use recommended performance settings so it's unchecked.

Use recommended performance settings checkbox.

  1. After unchecking the box, additional options are displayed. Click the check box next to Use hardware acceleration when available to toggle hardware acceleration on or off.

Checkbox to toggle hardware acceleration on and off.

Microsoft Edge

Microsoft Edge logo

Follow these steps to enable or disable hardware acceleration in Microsoft Edge.

  1. Open Microsoft Edge.
  2. In the upper-right corner of the window, click the Microsoft Edge menu icon icon.
  3. Select Settings from the drop-down menu.

Settings selector in Edge

  1. On the left side of the window, under the Settings section, click the System selector.
  1. Under System, click the toggle switch next to Use hardware acceleration when available to enable or disable hardware acceleration.

Toggling hardware acceleration in Microsoft Edge.

  1. When you've made your selection, click the Restart button in Edge. button.

Opera

Opera logo

Follow these steps to enable or disable hardware acceleration in Opera.

  1. Open Opera.
  2. Click the Opera menu icon icon in the upper-left corner.
  3. Select Settings from the drop-down menu.

Opera settings selector

  1. Click the Advanced button button.
  2. Select Browser from the expanded menu.

Browser selector in Opera

  1. Scroll down until you find the System section. Click the toggle switch next to Use hardware acceleration when available to enable or disable hardware acceleration.

Hardware acceleration toggle in Opera.

  1. When you've made your selection, click the Relaunch button in Opera. button.

Safari

Safari logo

As of macOS Catalina, users are no longer able to turn hardware acceleration on and off in Safari.