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      WebGL Error and Troubleshooting

      This article covers what to do if you receive a WebGL error.

      Browser could not initialize WebGL

      To check whether your browser supports WebGL, visit Get WebGL.org.

      Enable WebGL

      If your browser supports WebGL, follow these instructions to enable it:

      Chrome

      First, enable hardware acceleration:

      Go to chrome://settings Click the Advanced ▼ button at the bottom of the page In the System section, ensure the Use hardware acceleration when available checkbox is checked (you'll need to relaunch Chrome for any changes to take effect). If you have a machine without a dedicated graphics card, try turning hardware acceleration OFF.

      Then enable WebGL:

      Go to chrome://flags Ensure that Disable WebGL is not activated (you'll need to relaunch Chrome for any changes to take effect)

      In newer versions, this option of Disable WebGL will not be available, you will instead have to search for WebGL 2.0

      Here you will have to change Default to Enabled in the dropdown.

      Then inspect the status of WebGL: Go to chrome://gpu Inspect the WebGL item in the Graphics Feature Status list. The status will be one of the following:

      • Hardware accelerated — WebGL is enabled and hardware-accelerated (running on the graphics card).

      • Software only, hardware acceleration unavailable — WebGL is enabled, but running in software. See here for more info: "For software rendering of WebGL, Chrome uses SwiftShader, a software GL rasterizer."

      • Unavailable — WebGL is not available in hardware or software.

      If the status is not "Hardware accelerated", then the Problems Detected list (below the Graphics Feature Status list) may explain why hardware acceleration is unavailable.

      If your graphics card/drivers are blacklisted, you can override the blacklist. Warning: this is not recommended! (see blacklists note below). To override the blacklist:

      Go to chrome://flags

      Activate the Override software rendering list setting (you'll need to relaunch Chrome for any changes to take effect)

      Firefox

      First, enable WebGL:

      Navigate to about:config Search for webgl.disabled Ensure that the value is false

      Now, inspect the status of WebGL:

      Go to about:support Inspect the WebGL Renderer row in the Graphics table:

      • If the status contains a graphics card manufacturer, model and driver (eg: "NVIDIA Corporation -- NVIDIA GeForce 970M OpenGL Engine"), then WebGL is enabled.
      • If the status is something like "Blocked for your graphics card because of unresolved driver issues" or "Blocked for your graphics driver version", then your graphics card/driver is blacklisted.

      If your graphics card/drivers are blacklisted, you can override the blacklist. Warning: this is not recommended! (see blacklists note below). To override the blacklist:

      Go to about:config Search for webgl.force-enabled Set it to true

      (Like Chrome, Firefox has a Use hardware acceleration when available checkbox, in Preferences > Advanced > General > Browsing. However, unlike Chrome, Firefox does not require this checkbox to be checked for WebGL to work.)

      Safari

      Go to Safari's Preferences

      Select the Advanced tab

      Ensure that the Show Develop menu in menu bar checkbox is checked

      In Safari's Develop menu, select Experimental Features sub-menu and ensure that WebGL 2.0 is checked