#linux is fun!

[causeimapunkrocker]

The urge to try out new desktop environments just to get a feel of them, and to customise them to your heart and eyes' fullest desires!

[causeimapunkrocker]

How to enable Hardware acceleration in Firefox ESR

For reference, my computer has intel integrated graphics, and my operating system is Debian 12 Bookworm with VA-API for graphics. While I had hardware video acceleration enabled for many application, I had to spend some time last year trying to figure out out how to enable it for Firefox. While I found this article and followed it, I couldn't figure out at first how to use the environment variable. So here's a guide now for anyone new to Linux!

First, determine whether you are using the Wayland or X11 protocol Windowing system if you haven't already. In a terminal, enter:

echo "$XDG_SESSION_TYPE"

This will tell you which Windowing system you are using. Once you've followed the instructions in the article linked, edit (as root or with root privileges) /usr/share/applications/firefox-esr.desktop with your favorite text-editing software. I like to use nano! So for example, you would enter in a terminal:

sudo nano /usr/share/applications/firefox-esr.desktop

Then, navigate to the line that says "Exec=...". Replace that line with the following line, depending on whether you use Wayland or X11. If you use Wayland:

Exec=env MOZ_ENABLE_WAYLAND=1 firefox

If you use X11:

Exec=env MOZ_X11_EGL=1 firefox

Then save the file! If you are using the nano editor, press Ctrl+x, then press Y and then press enter! Restart Firefox ESR if you were already on it, and it should now work! Enjoy!