How To Turn Off Hardware Acceleration in Google Chrome [2026 Guide]

I'm going to teach you how to turn off hardware acceleration in Google Chrome. If you're wondering why you might want to do this, hardware acceleration is a feature that allows your computer's GPU or graphics processing unit to handle tasks typically managed by your CPU, thus helping speed things up.

Sometimes instead of speeding things up, it can actually lead to performance issues, causing things like screen flickering or other unwanted glitches. If you've been experiencing such problems, you may want to try turning off hardware acceleration to see if it resolves them.

Turn Off Hardware Acceleration in Google Chrome [2026 Guide]

Step-by-step

1. Open your Google Chrome browser.

2. Direct your attention to the upper right corner of the window. You should see three little dots arranged vertically. This is often referred to as the more menu. Click on these three dots.

3. Doing so will open a drop-down menu with a couple of different options. Within this drop-down menu, look for the option labeled settings. It's usually located somewhere near the bottom of the list. Click on it.

4. This will take you to a new tab within Chrome filled with various settings and customization options for your browser. On the left hand side of this new tab, you will see a menu. Look for the option that says system. Click on system and you'll be taken to a section of settings specifically pertaining to how Chrome operates on your computer, including some more advanced options that you might not need to touch very often.

5. Within the system settings, keep your eyes peeled for the line that says "Use hardware acceleration when available." Next to this phrase, you'll see a small toggle switch. By default, this switch is usually in the on position to take full advantage of your GPU. To turn off hardware acceleration, click on the switch to toggle it to the off position. When it's off, the switch will turn gray, indicating that hardware acceleration has been disabled.

6. There's one final step. You'll notice a button has appeared that says relaunch. Click this button to restart your Chrome browser, ensuring that the new setting takes effect. Chrome will close and reopen. If you have any unsaved work open in other tabs, make sure to save it before you click relaunch.

Once Chrome starts back up, hardware acceleration will be turned off and any performance issues it may have been causing should hopefully be resolved.

If it doesn't help

If you find this doesn't improve your experience or if you notice a slowdown in other areas, you can always go back and toggle the setting back on.

Final Thoughts

Turning off hardware acceleration in Chrome is a quick fix to try when you see screen flickering or odd visual glitches. It takes just a few clicks, and you can easily reverse it if it doesn't improve your experience. I hope you found this guide helpful.