Can enabling GPU acceleration help with Firefox lag on Linux, such as delays while scrolling or typing during a video? Is that something people generally need to set up themselves?
Do I need to enable VA-API or Vulkan in Firefox on Linux?
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loaf.mode.activated
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It depends on the hardware and Firefox setup. Hardware acceleration may already be enabled by default, so I wouldn't assume Firefox is using the CPU for everything or start changing settings without checking.
Sharing your distribution, GPU, Firefox version, and any error messages would make it easier to figure out what's happening on your system.
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VA-API is the part to look at for hardware video decoding. One setting to check in about:config is media.ffmpeg.vaapi.enabled. Setting it to true and restarting Firefox may let supported video decoding run on the GPU instead of the CPU.
That could leave more CPU capacity for the rest of the page, but it doesn't guarantee that every video will use hardware decoding or that it will fix input lag.
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I'd treat this as troubleshooting, not a general optimization checklist. If video playback is involved, testing with and without the VA-API setting may help narrow down whether decoding is contributing to the lag. Other causes are possible too.
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Nudge..please:
VA-API and Vulkan aren't interchangeable settings. Enabling video decoding through VA-API doesn't by itself mean you've enabled Vulkan.