This has been bothering me long enough that I figured I’d check to see if anyone else is having the same issue, and more importantly, if there’s a fix.
Some websites, like Google Earth or various weather radar sites get so slow that they are unusable in Firefox.
When I load the same sites in Edge, it’s blazing fast, as I’d expect.
Even Librewolf chugs on these sites.
Any suggestions would be appreciated.
ADDITIONAL DETAILS: First, thanks for all the input, guys.
I wanted to say that I’ve tried a fresh FF profile, and the same slowness happens in Google Earth.
I also confirmed that hardware acceleration is enabled.
This problem isn’t on all websites. For example, playing www.slowroads.io actually gives a higher framerate on FF than it does on Edge. So it seems to be that certain websites just suck ass.
Some of you have said that Google Earth on FF works perfectly fine… on linux. At least it seems not to be a FF problem. LOL
EDIT: Opera browser is just as smooth as Edge with G Earth.
POSSIBLE SOLUTION?? Ok, so even though I was able to confirm that hardware acceleration was enabled, and the GPU was active while using FF, and the about:support showed that webrender was enabled, I noticed that on about:config the gfx.webrender.all setting was set to false.
So, I enabled it, and tried again. Google Earth seems much smoother (not as good as edge, but better than before), and Tube Archivist no longer seems to freeze while a video is being played.
Could this be the reason for my issues? If so, why was this option set to false by default?
I just opened up Google Earth in Firefox to see what would happen. It’s buttery smooth with basically zero lag on loading assets, and zero lag zooming and dragging around on my 240Hz display.
I have a 1gbps symmetric fiber connection and I’m running NixOS. my Firefox Nix Home Manager config is here:
Even on my more pedestrian hardware Google Earth works fine with Firefox.
OP, check if your FF has WebGL enabled.
I’ve broken GMaps by blocking trackers and shit.
Thanks for trying! Google Earth is running my max refresh rate in Edge, but it’s painfully slow on FF. If it’s working for you, then I know there’s hope!
I’m on Windows, unfortunately, so that’s one variable I can’t change. I’ll consider that config, though!
What?
I have run both Google Earth and Google Maps in Firefox on Windows since forever and it has allways been fine.
This is not a Firefox issue.
I have run both Google Earth and Google Maps in Firefox on Windows since forever and it has allways been fine.
Yes, they both work (no issues with Gmaps from what I recall), but try Google Earth on Edge and tell me if it’s any smoother. To me, it’s so dramatic that you simply can’t ignore it.
I just tried it on my home computer with the following specs:
CPU: AMD Ryzen 5600X
RAM: 32GB DDR 4
GPU: nVidia GeForce RTX 3070
OS: Windows 10
C: Drive: 1TB NVMe Samsung 980
Internet speed: 250/250mbit
Screen resolution 2560x1440
It workes fine in Firefox, even while playing a yt video in anonther tab in Firefox, in Edge the performance was the same as in Firefox even without a YT video playing
Thanks for that. I’ve got a Framework laptop, and just looking at their support community, it seems like Firefox has not been playing well for quite a few people, with many citing “choppy” performance, so I’ll have a look what they’ve discovered.
Both Firefox and Edge was a bit choppy when zooming in, but nothing bad when panning…
Edge was a bit choppy when zooming in, but nothing bad when panning…
That’s interesting. Edge (and Opera) in G Earth are 100% smooth at my monitor’s max refresh rate (60 fps).
On my i9 rtx 3080 work laptop the only thing I’ve noticed is that chrome has higher CPU usage but lower GPU usage, and chrome is a bit smoother because of it. FF doesn’t seem to utilize my CPU as much and when it’s loading in stuff it’s choppier, but that could also be because it has less cached data than chrome (the main browser I use for work).
I’m on Windows…that’s one variable I can’t change.
🤔
I know, I’ve tried Linux. Many times. I tend to break linux without any way for me to fix it. So I always come back to Windows.
It’s like an abusive relationship that I can’t leave. LOL
That’s part of many people’s learning process. Meant of us, including me, have been there. Luckily, my last Windows computer was about 10 years ago. Good luck
Welcome to the “90% of web browsers are Chrome, so let’s just optimise for Chrome” issue with the internet. Probably doesn’t help that Edge and about a kajillion different browsers are also just Chrome/Chromium.
Solution? Get the web to stop relying so much on Chrome and Google. It’s just that easy!
I was afraid that might be the case. It certainly seems like that. I’m blown away by how much faster Edge is compared to FF. Google Earth seems to run at 60fps (max refresh rate of my monitor) in Edge and like 15fps in FF… if I’m lucky.
When you put
about:supportinto the Firefox URL bar, do you see evidence that your GPU is being used? I’m not sure which settings, exactly, would indicate that, but mine, under “GPU #1” has “Active: Yes.”Lots of GPU-related options are also disabled, but I still get a smooth Google Earth experience.
Yes, GPU is active and even confirmed through the Windows Task Manager. I’ve added more details to my OP.
Now why TF did I find this downvoted
Have you tried changing the browser user agent?
Does it help?
That’s an out-of-the-box idea, but I just tried it with the Windows/Edge and then Windows/Chrome setting, and Google earth spit up an error about the browser not being compatible, but I can try anyway (didn’t load), or it simply didn’t load (forever loading).
That would have been an interesting “fix”!
Works great for me on Windows 10 with the latest version of FF… Seems to be some problem with your particular configuration.
I do use ublock origin and the full suite of built in FF privacy enhancements, and I generally have my user agent spoofed as Chrome, but I’d be surprised if the latter made a difference.
Running essentially the same setup including uBlock origin but without a change to the user agent string and have absolutely no issues either.
Install ublock origin
If it is a google site try changing the user agent to Windows Chrome. Some sites including Google make there pages run slower on non Chrome browsers.
There’s a rumor going that some sites slow their performance on non-chromium browsers, not sure if even on those like opera or brave which are also chromium but with I think they make more customizations.
Other thing could be how much you use each browser, how many tabs you have open when you tried them? How many extensions? What other programs did you have open?
Other thing could be how much you use each browser, how many tabs you have open when you tried them? How many extensions? What other programs did you have open?
It doesn’t make a difference, even with a barebone configuration. That’s kind of why I have Librewolf available, so it’s separate from the config I have with my main FF profile.
I tried google earth in Firefox and it runs smoothly, but I noticed it’s putting some load on my GPU. Maybe hardware acceleration isn’t enabled or isn’t working in Firefox for you. I imagine it would run like crap without hardware acceleration.
I’ve confirmed that the GPU is being used (through Firefox and through the Windows Task Manager). On a fresh FF profile, I’m getting the same slow performance out of Google Earth.
I’m putting more details in my OP.
I run LibreWolf and Twitch won’t even let me log in. Even when spoofing the user agent they have client side measures to prevent you from logging in unless you’re using FF or Chrome.
If anyone has faced or solved this issue I’d love to know.
My issue was with kindle – or read dot amazon – in Librewolf. The partial solution i fpund was crearing a new profile with the same extensions intalled in the default profile, with the addition of Canvas, for enhance fingerprint protection. Then, in the Librewolf-specific settings disable their default fingerprint protection. For me is a partial solution because every time i want to read a kindle book from the browser, y need to launch the firefox profile wizard, then select the profile for read dot amazon, then login, and finally open the book.
I have zero issues with Google Earth, using Firefox on Linux.
Sounds like Firefox might not be using GPU acceleration on your system for some reason. Graphics intensive websites (particularly 3D) work better if they make use of hardware acceleration and generally run better with it enabled. You can check if hardware acceleration is working by going to “about:support” and checking the “composite” line. If it says Web Render (without software written there in brackets) it’s hardware accelerated. If it’s disabled you may need to dig into settings to turn it on. It can also be related to out of date graphics drivers in Windows (I see elsewhere you’re on wndows).
Another possibility is if you have extensions that are interfering with the the website. Adblocks and privacy extensions can mess with Google sites (which are heavily data scraping). One way to test this is to open the website on private mode (assuming you haven’t enabled all extensions in that mode) and see what happens. Or disable all your extensions on that one site and see what happens.
But the core point is, Firefox is perfectly able to run such sites without issue. So the problem is likely to be with your set up somewhere.
You can check if hardware acceleration is working by going to “about:support” and checking the “composite” line. If it says Web Render (without software written there in brackets) it’s hardware accelerated. I
It does say “Compositing WebRender”.
I’m going to try a fresh profile to see if that happens. I do have the same issue on multiple PCs (all windows), so I must be doing something that’s creating this issue on all my installs.
To me this sounds like either your GPU acceleration is off or is choking somehow. I’d start with checking your GPU acceleration settings and updating your drivers if they aren’t the latest. If that doesn’t work, maybe try FF with a fresh config to see if it’s a setting you’ve enabled?
If its just a game then why not run it in any old browser.
It doesnt matter much, in this case.I use Firefox on Windows 10. I’m kind of a tab-o-holic and multiple times a day I have to shut down FF and restart it to keep YouTube from slowing down. Thought it was due to the number of tabs I have open, but I never had this problem when I was using Brave.
There’s a well known issue of YT slowing down on FF clients. It’s not a FF issue, it’s Google being Google
Ok, thanks for that. Still it didn’t happen back when I was using Brave.
