I created a short and clear tutorial showing how to turn hardware acceleration on or off in Chrome. You can watch it here:

Hardware acceleration allows Chrome to offload certain tasks — like video rendering or visual effects — to your computer’s GPU instead of the CPU. In some cases, it improves performance. In others, it can actually cause lag, crashes, or visual glitches.

In the video, I walk you through where to find the setting. First, open Chrome and go to:

chrome://settings/system

Once there, look for the option: “Use hardware acceleration when available.” Toggle it on or off, then restart Chrome to apply the change.

I also explain a few common reasons to disable hardware acceleration:

  • Video playback is choppy
  • Screen tearing or freezing in certain web apps
  • Crashing when streaming content

On the flip side, enabling it might help if your browser feels sluggish or you’re doing graphics-heavy tasks like editing in-browser or using video platforms.

I’ve had times where turning off hardware acceleration instantly fixed annoying display issues. It’s one of those hidden settings that can make a big difference.

Have you ever tweaked this setting before? What did you notice?