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Disabling hardware acceleration in Firefox can solve graphics and performance problems. However, there are a few things you should bear in mind
How to disable hardware acceleration in Firefox
The purpose of hardware acceleration in Firefox is to improve the display of websites and media in the browser. If it is activated, Firefox uses the computer’s graphics card or GPU (Graphics Processing Unit) in addition to the processor. Sometimes, however, the function causes problems or even has the opposite effect and should then be deactivated:
- Open Firefox on your PC.
- Click on the menu icon. This is usually located at the top right and shows three horizontal lines.
- Select “Settings”.
- In the “General” category, scroll down until you reach the Performance section.
- Uncheck the “Use recommended performance settings” box.
- The new option “Use hardware acceleration if available” now appears directly below. Remove the existing checkmark here.
- The change is saved automatically. To ensure that it is applied. Now restart Firefox.
Alternatives for deactivating hardware acceleration
Hardware acceleration is enabled by default in Firefox and can usually improve the performance of the browser noticeably. You should therefore only deactivate the function if you have specific performance problems that cannot be solved in any other way.
- Update graphics card driver: Since hardware acceleration uses your PC’s GPU, you should always install the latest drivers for it.
- Update Firefox: Make sure you are using the latest version of Firefox and download any available updates.
- Disable add-ons: Some Firefox add-ons can degrade the performance of the browser. You can disable individual or all add-ons and check whether this improves performance.
- Close open tabs: Too many open tabs can also reduce Firefox’s response time. You should therefore regularly close tabs that you no longer need.
- In our article Firefox lagging: How to stop the stuttering you will find more tips to improve the performance of Firefox.
