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Low fps on multiple iwndows hen one is playing audio or video

  • 2 replies
  • 1 has this problem
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  • Last reply by dmitry7

dmitry7
dmitry7
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OS: Ubuntu 21.04 x86_64 CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 3700X (16) @ 3.600GHz GPU: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER

When I have two windows running and one of them is playing either audio or video on its active tab, the other window runs at a very low FPS. This is noticeable when scrolling, as CPU usage appears to increase dramatically while monitored.

The problem does not appear when running firefox in safe mode, but I cannot determine what might be causing the problem when firefox runs normally: the problem persists when I disable all extensions, as well as when I use the browser's default appearance as opposed to the theme of my choice. As far as I can tell, I have not modified any about:config settings either, although some cursory searching online suggests webrender may be a cause.

OS: Ubuntu 21.04 x86_64 CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 3700X (16) @ 3.600GHz GPU: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER When I have two windows running and one of them is playing either audio or video on its active tab, the other window runs at a very low FPS. This is noticeable when scrolling, as CPU usage appears to increase dramatically while monitored. The problem does not appear when running firefox in safe mode, but I cannot determine what might be causing the problem when firefox runs normally: the problem persists when I disable all extensions, as well as when I use the browser's default appearance as opposed to the theme of my choice. As far as I can tell, I have not modified any about:config settings either, although some cursory searching online suggests webrender may be a cause.

Chosen solution

This could be a problem with WebRender or hardware acceleration in Firefox.

You can try to disable WebRender or the compositor by setting this pref to false on the the about:config page to see if that has effect.

  • gfx.webrender.enabled = false
  • gfx.webrender.compositor = false

You can open the about:config page via the location/address bar. You can accept the warning and click "I accept the risk!" to continue.

You can try to disable hardware acceleration in Firefox.

Close and restart Firefox after modifying the setting to make changes effective.

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All Replies (2)

cor-el
cor-el
  • Moderator
  • Top 10 Contributor
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Chosen Solution

This could be a problem with WebRender or hardware acceleration in Firefox.

You can try to disable WebRender or the compositor by setting this pref to false on the the about:config page to see if that has effect.

  • gfx.webrender.enabled = false
  • gfx.webrender.compositor = false

You can open the about:config page via the location/address bar. You can accept the warning and click "I accept the risk!" to continue.

You can try to disable hardware acceleration in Firefox.

Close and restart Firefox after modifying the setting to make changes effective.

dmitry7
dmitry7 Question owner
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Thank you. It appears the webrender settings were already set the way you had recommended, but disabling hardware acceleration did the trick.