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Imprecise WebGL Renderer String

  • 2 replies
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  • Last reply by simi.11

simi.11
simi.11
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Hi, so I noticed that the "WebGL Renderer String", which Firefox returns upon request, seems to be quite imprecise in some cases.

My desktop machine has a Nvidia Geforce GTX 650 Ti built into it.

Google Chrome for example returns the exact and correct renderer string: "ANGLE (NVIDIA, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 650 Ti Direct3D11 vs_5_0 ps_5_0, D3D11-27.21.14.5671)"

Firefox instead seems to assign and return a more simple, generic renderer string, in my case: "ANGLE (NVIDIA, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 480 Direct3D11 vs_5_0 ps_5_0)"

This is of course a great feature in terms of privacy ("browser-fingerprinting"). Nonetheless I didn't find any information about the rules which are applied, before such a more generic renderer string is being returned by Firefox. It would be cool if someone could share an insight with me!

Best regards

Hi, so I noticed that the "WebGL Renderer String", which Firefox returns upon request, seems to be quite imprecise in some cases. My desktop machine has a Nvidia Geforce GTX 650 Ti built into it. Google Chrome for example returns the exact and correct renderer string: "ANGLE (NVIDIA, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 650 Ti Direct3D11 vs_5_0 ps_5_0, D3D11-27.21.14.5671)" Firefox instead seems to assign and return a more simple, generic renderer string, in my case: "ANGLE (NVIDIA, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 480 Direct3D11 vs_5_0 ps_5_0)" This is of course a great feature in terms of privacy ("browser-fingerprinting"). Nonetheless I didn't find any information about the rules which are applied, before such a more generic renderer string is being returned by Firefox. It would be cool if someone could share an insight with me! Best regards

Chosen solution

Perhaps it's due to bug 1715690 and 1722113.

Can you see the real string in about:support?

Try to set webgl.enable-renderer-query = false and webgl.sanitize-unmasked-renderer = true prefs in about:config.

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All Replies (2)

TyDraniu
TyDraniu
  • Top 25 Contributor
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Chosen Solution

Perhaps it's due to bug 1715690 and 1722113.

Can you see the real string in about:support?

Try to set webgl.enable-renderer-query = false and webgl.sanitize-unmasked-renderer = true prefs in about:config.

simi.11
simi.11 Question owner
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TyDraniu said
Perhaps it's due to bug 1715690 and 1722113. Can you see the real string in about:support? Try to set webgl.enable-renderer-query = false and webgl.sanitize-unmasked-renderer = true prefs in about:config.

These two links helped me a lot. Thank you very much TyDraniu!

In about:support I can find the real string, so it got bucketed which of course is a good thing.

I tried to change the config settings but that did not reveal the real string (which is fine)

Modified by simi.11