Best Chrome Flags to Enable

Most Chrome flags are short-lived experiments, and many “best flags” lists name flags that no longer exist. The flags below were each checked in chrome://flags in Google Chrome on a computer. Copy a flag’s address, paste it into the address bar, choose Enabled or Disabled, then click Relaunch. The quotes are Chrome’s own description of each flag, and the platforms are the ones Chrome lists for it.

• Parallel downloading: chrome://flags/#enable-parallel-downloading
  Chrome says: “Enable parallel downloading to accelerate download speed.” Works on Mac, Windows, Linux, ChromeOS, Android.
  Try it if large downloads feel slow. Set it back to Default if downloads start failing.
• Auto Dark Mode for Web Contents: chrome://flags/#enable-force-dark
  Chrome says: “Automatically render all web contents using a dark theme.” Works on Mac, Windows, Linux, ChromeOS, Android.
  For dark websites, not just a dark Chrome. Chrome’s normal Dark mode setting darkens Chrome itself; Google’s Dark mode help says it makes “your homepage, toolbar, settings, and some other pages” dark. This flag recolors the websites you visit as well.
• Overlay Scrollbars: chrome://flags/#overlay-scrollbars
  Chrome says: “Override scrollbar mode to overlay or classic.” Works on Mac, Windows, Linux, ChromeOS.
  Its menu offers overlay scrollbars that fade out, scrollbars that follow your operating system’s setting, or classic scrollbars that always show.
• Smooth Scrolling: chrome://flags/#smooth-scrolling
  Chrome says: “Animate smoothly when scrolling page content.” Works on Windows, Linux, ChromeOS, Android.
  Choose Enabled or Disabled depending on whether you like animated scrolling. It is not offered on Mac, where it sits on the Unavailable tab.
• Hardware Media Key Handling: chrome://flags/#hardware-media-key-handling
  Chrome says: “Enables using media keys to control the active media session.” Works on Mac, Windows, Linux, ChromeOS.
  Set it to Disabled if you want your keyboard’s play, pause and skip keys to stop controlling audio and video playing in Chrome.
• Override software rendering list: chrome://flags/#ignore-gpu-blocklist
  Chrome says: “Overrides the built-in software rendering list and enables GPU-acceleration on unsupported system configurations.” Works on Mac, Windows, Linux, ChromeOS, Android.
  Only if chrome://gpu shows graphics features that are not hardware accelerated and you want to test whether your graphics card can handle them. The flag turns on GPU acceleration on setups Chrome does not support, so set it back to Disabled if anything goes wrong.
• Experimental Web Platform features: chrome://flags/#enable-experimental-web-platform-features
  Chrome says: “Enables experimental Web Platform features that are in development.” Works on Mac, Windows, Linux, ChromeOS, Android.
  For web developers. Google’s flags guide says this one flag switches on many smaller features that do not get a flag of their own, and recommends testing sites in normal Chrome without any flags too.

If a flag is not in your list, it was probably removed or does not apply to your device. Our guide to using chrome://flags explains why flags disappear.

Before you change any flag

Chrome’s flags page opens with a warning: “By enabling these features, you could lose browser data or compromise your security or privacy.” Google’s flags guide adds that flagged features “may stop working or be removed without notice,” and that most Chrome users never need flags. Change one flag at a time, so you know which one to undo if something breaks.

How to reset all flags

1. Open chrome://flags.
2. Click Reset all at the top of the page.
3. Click Relaunch.

Every flag goes back to Default. This is not the same as resetting Chrome’s settings, which Google covers in Reset Chrome settings to default.

Flags from older guides that are gone

Older lists often recommend flags to turn on Tab Groups, Secure DNS lookups or WebAssembly SIMD. None of those flags is in chrome://flags today. Tab groups and secure DNS are ordinary Chrome features now: Google explains how to use tab groups, and Use secure DNS is a setting under chrome://settings/security.