How to Turn Off Hardware Acceleration in Firefox

If Firefox is freezing, flickering, showing a black screen, or causing video playback problems, turning off hardware acceleration can sometimes fix the issue.

Hardware acceleration lets Firefox use your GPU instead of relying only on your CPU. This can improve performance, especially for videos, animations, and graphics-heavy websites. But on some systems, especially with older graphics drivers or unstable GPU configurations, it can also cause visual bugs or crashes.

In this guide, you will learn how to disable hardware acceleration in Firefox.

Quick Answer

To turn off hardware acceleration in Firefox:

1. Open Firefox.
2. Click the menu button in the top-right corner.
3. Go to Settings.
4. Scroll down to the Performance section.
5. Uncheck Use recommended performance settings.
6. Uncheck Use hardware acceleration when available.
7. Restart Firefox.

That is it. Firefox will now run without hardware acceleration.

Table of contents

• Step-by-Step Guide
• 1. Open Firefox Settings
• 2. Go to the General Tab
• 3. Find the Performance Section
• 4. Disable Recommended Performance Settings
• 5. Turn Off Hardware Acceleration
• 6. Restart Firefox
• When Should You Turn Off Hardware Acceleration?
• Does Turning Off Hardware Acceleration Make Firefox Slower?
• How to Turn Hardware Acceleration Back On
• What If You Do Not See the Hardware Acceleration Option?
• Final Thoughts

Step-by-Step Guide

1. Open Firefox Settings

First, open Firefox on your computer.

Click the three-line menu button in the top-right corner of the browser.

Then click Settings.

2. Go to the General Tab

In most versions of Firefox, the General section opens by default.

If it does not, click General from the left sidebar.

3. Find the Performance Section

Scroll down until you see the Performance section.

By default, Firefox usually enables this option:

Use recommended performance settings

This option hides some advanced performance controls.

4. Disable Recommended Performance Settings

Uncheck:

Use recommended performance settings

After you disable it, Firefox will show extra performance options.

5. Turn Off Hardware Acceleration

Now uncheck:

Use hardware acceleration when available

This disables hardware acceleration in Firefox.

6. Restart Firefox

Close Firefox completely and open it again.

Restarting the browser makes sure the change is fully applied.

When Should You Turn Off Hardware Acceleration?

You may want to disable hardware acceleration if you notice problems like:

• Firefox freezing randomly
• Screen flickering
• Black screen while watching videos
• YouTube or video playback glitches
• Browser crashes
• High GPU usage
• Visual bugs on websites
• Problems while screen sharing or recording

If the issue started after a graphics driver update, Windows update, or Firefox update, this setting is also worth testing.

Does Turning Off Hardware Acceleration Make Firefox Slower?

It can, depending on your computer.

When hardware acceleration is enabled, Firefox can use your graphics card for some tasks. When you turn it off, Firefox relies more on your CPU.

For normal browsing, you may not notice a big difference. But for video playback, animations, games, WebGL content, and graphics-heavy websites, Firefox may feel slower on some systems.

The best approach is simple:

Turn it off, restart Firefox, and test your browser for a while.

If Firefox becomes more stable, keep it disabled. If performance gets worse, you can turn it back on.

How to Turn Hardware Acceleration Back On

If you want to enable hardware acceleration again:

1. Open Firefox.
2. Go to Settings.
3. Open the General section.
4. Scroll to Performance.
5. Uncheck Use recommended performance settings if needed.
6. Check Use hardware acceleration when available.
7. Restart Firefox.

You can also re-enable Use recommended performance settings if you want Firefox to manage performance automatically.

What If You Do Not See the Hardware Acceleration Option?

If you do not see the option, try these fixes:

• Make sure Firefox is updated.
• Check that you are using desktop Firefox, not mobile Firefox.
• Update your graphics driver.
• Restart Firefox and check again.
• Look under Settings > General > Performance.

Firefox may hide some performance options depending on your system, version, or graphics driver compatibility.

Final Thoughts

Turning off hardware acceleration in Firefox is a simple troubleshooting step that can fix freezing, flickering, black screens, and video playback issues.

For many users, hardware acceleration works well and should stay enabled. But if Firefox behaves strangely, disabling it is one of the first settings worth testing.

After changing the setting, always restart Firefox and test the browser again.