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Poor anti-aliasing in Windows10 FF 48.0.2

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My firefox is rendering text aliasing pretty poorly. When Looking at troubleshooting information the following is showing up under Graphics.


Diagnostics ClearType Parameters D [ Gamma: 2200 Pixel Structure: R ClearType Level: 100 Enhanced Contrast: 50 ] D [ Gamma: 2200 Pixel Structure: R ClearType Level: 100 Enhanced Contrast: 50 ] AzureCanvasAccelerated 0 AzureCanvasBackend skia AzureContentBackend cairo AzureFallbackCanvasBackend cairo ClearType Parameters D [ Gamma: 2200 Pixel Structure: R ClearType Level: 100 Enhanced Contrast: 50 ] D [ Gamma: 2200 Pixel Structure: R ClearType Level: 100 Enhanced Contrast: 50 ] failures [GFX1-]: D3D11 layers disabled due to a prior crash. Failure Log (#0) Error D3D11 layers disabled due to a prior crash.

My firefox is rendering text aliasing pretty poorly. When Looking at troubleshooting information the following is showing up under Graphics. Diagnostics ClearType Parameters D [ Gamma: 2200 Pixel Structure: R ClearType Level: 100 Enhanced Contrast: 50 ] D [ Gamma: 2200 Pixel Structure: R ClearType Level: 100 Enhanced Contrast: 50 ] AzureCanvasAccelerated 0 AzureCanvasBackend skia AzureContentBackend cairo AzureFallbackCanvasBackend cairo ClearType Parameters D [ Gamma: 2200 Pixel Structure: R ClearType Level: 100 Enhanced Contrast: 50 ] D [ Gamma: 2200 Pixel Structure: R ClearType Level: 100 Enhanced Contrast: 50 ] failures [GFX1-]: D3D11 layers disabled due to a prior crash. Failure Log (#0) Error D3D11 layers disabled due to a prior crash.

Chosen solution

rg1987 said

I tried that both in safe mode and outside safemode and restarting, and it did not resolve the issue unfortunately.

Safe Mode is not helpful for this because Safe Mode automatically disables hardware acceleration. While in regular mode, if you check the Troubleshooting Information page again, are Direct2D and DirectWrite true now? Either:

  • "3-bar" menu button > "?" button > Troubleshooting Information
  • (menu bar) Help > Troubleshooting Information
  • type or paste about:support in the address bar and press Enter

Scroll down to the Graphics heading where this information should be in the following table. If still false, sometimes Firefox will indicate that your graphics driver is "blocked" or give some other explanation for why the setting is being ignored.

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All Replies (8)

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Type about:preferences#content<enter> in the address bar. Across from fonts and colors, press the Advanced button. On the bottom, turn on Allow Web Sites To Choose Their Own.

Fonts Information - Detected via Flash http://browserspy.dk/fonts-flash.php?detail=1


Many site issues can be caused by corrupt cookies or cache.

  • Clear the Cache and
  • Remove Cookies
    Warning ! ! This will log you out of sites you're logged in to.

Type about:preferences<Enter> in the address bar.

  • Cookies; Select Privacy. Under History, select Firefox will Use Custom Settings. Press the button on the right side called Show Cookies. Use the search bar to look for the site. Note; There may be more than one entry. Remove All of them.
  • Cache; Select Advanced > Network. Across from Cached Web Content, Press Clear Now.

If there is still a problem, Start Firefox in Safe Mode {web link} A small dialog should appear. Click Start In Safe Mode (not Refresh). While you are in safe mode;

Type about:preferences#advanced<Enter> in the address bar.

Under Advanced, Select General. Look for and turn off Use Hardware Acceleration.

Poke around safe websites. Are there any problems?

Then restart.

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Sorry, none of that seemed to work. When I look at a lot of websites the fonts don't render great. If I use Chrome though, it renders perfectly. Not sure where to go from here :) Im on Windows 10 in case it matters.

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In your Question Details > More System Details:

  • direct2DEnabled: False
  • directWriteEnabled: False

Firefox uses your GPU (hardware acceleration) to smooth the appearance of many fonts, especially downloadable fonts. If those settings are not true, fonts can appear jagged/pixelated.

Could you check whether HA is "optionally" disabled and try re-enabling it:

"3-bar" menu button (or Tools menu) > Options

In the left column, click Advanced. On the right side, with the "General" mini-tab active, uncheck the box for "Use hardware acceleration when available".

This takes effect the next time you exit Firefox and start it up again. Any difference?

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I tried that both in safe mode and outside safemode and restarting, and it did not resolve the issue unfortunately.

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Chosen Solution

rg1987 said

I tried that both in safe mode and outside safemode and restarting, and it did not resolve the issue unfortunately.

Safe Mode is not helpful for this because Safe Mode automatically disables hardware acceleration. While in regular mode, if you check the Troubleshooting Information page again, are Direct2D and DirectWrite true now? Either:

  • "3-bar" menu button > "?" button > Troubleshooting Information
  • (menu bar) Help > Troubleshooting Information
  • type or paste about:support in the address bar and press Enter

Scroll down to the Graphics heading where this information should be in the following table. If still false, sometimes Firefox will indicate that your graphics driver is "blocked" or give some other explanation for why the setting is being ignored.

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Heres what is in th ere


Features Compositing Basic Asynchronous Pan/Zoom none WebGL Renderer Google Inc. -- ANGLE (NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970 Direct3D9Ex vs_3_0 ps_3_0) Hardware H264 Decoding No; Hardware video decoding disabled or blacklisted DirectWrite false (10.0.10586.589) GPU #1 Active Yes Description NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970 Vendor ID 0x10de Device ID 0x13c2 Driver Version 21.21.13.7270 Driver Date 8-25-2016 Drivers nvd3dumx,nvwgf2umx,nvwgf2umx,nvwgf2umx nvd3dum,nvwgf2um,nvwgf2um,nvwgf2um Subsys ID 29743842 RAM 4095 Diagnostics ClearType Parameters D [ Gamma: 2200 Pixel Structure: R ClearType Level: 100 Enhanced Contrast: 50 ] D [ Gamma: 2200 Pixel Structure: R ClearType Level: 100 Enhanced Contrast: 50 ] AzureCanvasAccelerated 0 AzureCanvasBackend skia AzureContentBackend cairo AzureFallbackCanvasBackend cairo ClearType Parameters D [ Gamma: 2200 Pixel Structure: R ClearType Level: 100 Enhanced Contrast: 50 ] D [ Gamma: 2200 Pixel Structure: R ClearType Level: 100 Enhanced Contrast: 50 ] Decision Log HW_COMPOSITING disabled by user: Disabled by pref D3D11_COMPOSITING unavailable by default: Hardware compositing is disabled D3D9_COMPOSITING unavailable by default: Hardware compositing is disabled DIRECT2D unavailable by default: Direct2D requires Direct3D 11 compositing D3D11_HW_ANGLE unavailable by default: D3D11 compositing is disabled disabled by env: D3D11 compositing is disabled

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Looks like its fixed.

I had to reset D3D11 on FF restart at the bottom of the graphics area. Odd because I did not see this earlier.

Thanks for your help!

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I'm glad you found a solution. I've never noticed that before ("Direct2D requires Direct3D 11 compositing"). Could be a Windows 10 thing.