What hardware acceleration does and why you might turn it off

Hardware acceleration tells your computer to use its graphics chip instead of its main processor for certain tasks — mostly displaying video, animations, and 3D graphics. It usually makes things faster and smoother. But sometimes it causes problems: your screen flickers, videos stutter, or an app crashes repeatedly. Turning it off forces your computer to do that work the old way, which is slower but often more stable.

The catch is that hardware acceleration lives in different places depending on what you're using. Your web browser has its own setting. Your graphics driver has another. Some apps have their own toggle. You might need to turn it off in one place, several places, or all of them — depending on where the problem actually is.

Key Takeaways

  • Hardware acceleration uses your graphics chip to speed up video and animations, but can cause flickering, stuttering, or crashes on some computers.
  • Chrome, Firefox, Safari, and Edge each have their own hardware acceleration setting in their preferences, usually under Display or Performance.
  • Turning off hardware acceleration in your browser does not affect other apps — you may need to disable it separately in Windows, Mac settings, or individual programs.
  • After you turn off hardware acceleration, restart the browser or app completely before testing whether the problem is fixed.
  • If disabling it does not help, the problem is likely something else, and you should turn it back on to keep performance normal.

Disable hardware acceleration in Chrome

Open Chrome and click the three vertical dots in the top right corner. Select Settings. On the left sidebar, click System. Look for the toggle next to "Use hardware acceleration" — it will be blue and switched on. Click it once to turn it off. The toggle will turn gray.

Chrome will ask you to relaunch the browser. Click the Relaunch button that appears, or close Chrome completely and open it again. Hardware acceleration is now off. If the problem you were having — stuttering video, flickering, or crashes — stops happening, you have found the cause. If nothing changes, turn it back on the same way and look elsewhere.

Disable hardware acceleration in Firefox

Open Firefox and click the three horizontal lines (the menu button) in the top right. Click Settings. On the left, click General. Scroll down to the Performance section. You will see a checkbox next to "Use recommended performance settings" — it is checked by default. Uncheck it. A new option appears below: "Use hardware acceleration when available." Uncheck that box too.

Close Firefox completely and open it again. The change takes effect after a full restart. Test whether your video or animations are now stable. If they are, hardware acceleration was the problem. If the issue persists, check the box again to turn hardware acceleration back on.

Disable hardware acceleration in Safari and Edge

In Safari: Click Safari in the top menu bar, then Settings. Click the Advanced tab. Look for "Enable WebGL" and uncheck it. This disables one form of hardware acceleration used for 3D graphics on websites. Safari does not have a single master hardware acceleration toggle like Chrome or Firefox, so this is the main setting to try.

In Edge: Click the three dots in the top right and select Settings. Click System on the left sidebar. Find "Use hardware acceleration" and click the toggle to turn it off. Close Edge completely and reopen it. The setting takes effect on restart.

Turn off hardware acceleration in Windows settings

If disabling it in your browser did not help, the problem might be in Windows itself. Right-click on your desktop and look for Display settings or NVIDIA Control Panel or AMD Radeon Settings — which one appears depends on what graphics chip your computer has.

In Display settings, scroll down and click Advanced display settings. At the bottom, click Display adapter properties. Click the Troubleshoot tab. You will see a slider labeled "Hardware Acceleration." Drag it all the way to the left (the "None" position). Click explore, then OK. Restart your computer.

If you see NVIDIA or AMD settings instead, the process is different for each. In NVIDIA Control Panel, right-click the desktop and select it, then look for "Manage 3D Settings" and find the hardware acceleration option there. AMD Radeon Settings has similar options under Performance. Both require a restart after changes.

Turn off hardware acceleration on Mac

Mac does not have a system-wide hardware acceleration toggle the way Windows does. Instead, look in the app or browser that is causing the problem. If it is a web browser, use the steps above for Safari. If it is another app, open the app's preferences (usually under the app name in the top menu), look for a Display, Graphics, or Performance section, and search for any mention of "hardware acceleration," "GPU," or "graphics."

If you cannot find such a setting in the app itself, the problem is likely not hardware acceleration. Try updating the app or your Mac's operating system instead. You can check for updates by clicking the Apple menu and selecting System Settings, then General > Software Update.

What to do if turning it off does not fix the problem

If you disabled hardware acceleration and the stuttering, flickering, or crashes continue, the problem is something else. Turn hardware acceleration back on — it helps performance in most cases, and leaving it off when it is not the cause just makes your computer slower.

The real culprit might be outdated graphics drivers, not enough RAM, a browser extension interfering, or a problem with a specific website or app. Try updating your graphics drivers first: on Windows, right-click the Start button, select Device Manager, expand Display adapters, right-click your graphics card, and select Update driver. On Mac, check the App Store for driver updates. If that does not help, the issue likely needs troubleshooting specific to what you are trying to do.

Frequently Asked Questions

Will turning off hardware acceleration make everything slower?

Yes, but only noticeably if you watch a lot of video or use graphics-heavy websites. Browsing text and images will feel the same. If you turned it off to fix a problem and the problem is gone, the slowdown is usually worth the stability. If the problem did not go away, turn it back on.

Do I need to turn off hardware acceleration in both my browser and Windows?

Not usually. Start with your browser, since that is where most people encounter the problem. If that does not work, then try Windows settings. You do not need to disable it in both places unless the problem only stops when you do.

Can hardware acceleration damage my graphics card?

No. If hardware acceleration is causing crashes or flickering, it is a software compatibility problem, not hardware damage. Turning it off is safe, and turning it back on is equally safe.

Why does one website work fine but another one stutters?

Different websites use different video formats and graphics techniques. One site might use a format your graphics chip handles poorly, while another uses a format it handles well. If only one site has problems, try disabling hardware acceleration just for that site instead of your whole browser — most browsers let you do this by clicking the lock icon next to the web address.

Do I need to restart my computer after turning off hardware acceleration?

You need to fully close and reopen the app or browser where you changed the setting. A full computer restart is not always necessary, but it does not hurt and ensures the change takes effect everywhere.