The fastest way: paste chrome://settings/system into Chrome’s address bar, switch Use graphics acceleration when available on or off, then select Relaunch. Hardware acceleration is on by default.
Chrome now calls the setting “graphics acceleration”. Older versions and some help pages still say “Use hardware acceleration when available”. It is the same switch.
Step by step on Windows, Mac and Linux
- Open Chrome and select More (the three dots at the top right) > Settings.
- In the menu on the left, select System. You no longer need to open an Advanced section first.
- Turn Use graphics acceleration when available on or off.
- Select the Relaunch button that appears next to the switch. Chrome restarts and reopens your tabs. The change does not take effect until Chrome restarts.
Google’s help for Chrome crashes uses the same steps when it suggests turning acceleration off.
Check that it worked
Open chrome://gpu. Under Graphics Feature Status:
- With acceleration on, most lines say Hardware accelerated.
- With acceleration off, they say Software only. Hardware acceleration disabled, and WebGL shows Disabled.
If acceleration is on but lines still say Software only, Chrome is not using your graphics chip. Our guide to fixing hardware acceleration problems explains why and what to do.
Should it be on or off?
- Leave it on if Chrome works normally. With it off, Chrome draws pages and decodes video with the processor, and turns off WebGL, so 3D games and maps may not work.
- Turn it off if pages go black or white, flicker, or Chrome crashes while showing video. If turning it off fixes the problem, update your graphics driver and then try turning it back on.
For a black window specifically, see how to fix a black screen in Chrome.
Turn it off for one session only
If Chrome is unreadable and you can’t reach Settings, start it with the --disable-gpu switch. It turns acceleration off until Chrome closes and does not change the setting. We checked both in Chrome. How to add a switch on each system is in the Chromium guide to command-line switches. On Mac, for example, quit Chrome and run this in Terminal:
/Applications/Google\ Chrome.app/Contents/MacOS/Google\ Chrome --disable-gpu
If you can’t change the switch
On a work or school computer, your organization can set this with the HardwareAccelerationModeEnabled policy. Google’s policy page says Enabled, or no policy, turns graphics acceleration on, and Disabled turns it off. To see whether a policy is set, open chrome://policy. Only your administrator can change it.
Phones and tablets
This setting is part of Chrome on computers. Google’s policy for it applies to Chrome on Windows, Mac and Linux. If Chrome shows blank pages on a phone, follow the Android or iPhone steps in our white screen guide.