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What Is My WebGL / GPU

Detect your GPU renderer, vendor, WebGL version, and key graphics capabilities directly from your browser — no plugins required.

This tool reads your browser’s WebGL APIto reveal the GPU renderer and vendor your device is using, the WebGL version supported, and key graphics capabilities like max texture size and extension count — all without installing anything.

🎮What Is My WebGL / GPU

What is WebGL?

WebGL (Web Graphics Library) is a JavaScript API that gives browsers direct access to the GPU through an HTML <canvas> element. It is based on OpenGL ES and allows rendering hardware-accelerated 2D and 3D scenes without browser plug-ins. WebGL is used by game engines, data visualisation libraries, maps, and creative coding tools every day.

There are two versions in active use today:

  • WebGL 1.0— based on OpenGL ES 2.0. Supported in virtually every browser since 2011, including older mobile devices.
  • WebGL 2.0— based on OpenGL ES 3.0. Adds instanced rendering, transform feedback, 3D textures, multiple render targets, and higher-precision formats. Available in all current desktop and most mobile browsers.

How does the tool read your GPU name?

The WEBGL_debug_renderer_info extension lets JavaScript query two special parameters from the WebGL context: the unmasked renderer and the unmasked vendor. These strings come directly from your graphics driver and typically include the GPU model (e.g. “NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070”) and the hardware vendor (e.g. “NVIDIA Corporation”).

Not every browser exposes this extension. Privacy-hardened browsers and some configurations return a generic string like “Google SwiftShader” or blank values to reduce fingerprinting surface. If your GPU name shows as unavailable, this is intentional — the browser is protecting your identity, not a bug.

Key parameters explained

  • Max texture size— the largest single texture the GPU can handle, in pixels per side. Common values are 4 096, 8 192, or 16 384. Exceeding this causes textures to be silently clamped or rejected.
  • Max render buffer size— the largest off-screen framebuffer the GPU supports. Usually matches or exceeds the max texture size. Relevant for post-processing effects and shadow maps.
  • Max viewport dimensions— the widest and tallest canvas the GPU can render in a single pass. On most desktops this is many times the screen resolution.
  • Antialiasing— whether the browser created the WebGL context with MSAA (multi-sample anti-aliasing) enabled. This smooths jagged edges on 3D geometry.
  • Extensions— optional WebGL features the driver and browser support, such as anisotropic filtering, instanced arrays (WebGL 1), and half-float textures. More extensions generally means better rendering quality and performance.

WebGL and browser fingerprinting

The combination of GPU model, driver version, supported extension list, and subtle rendering differences between GPU families creates a highly distinctive profile that tracking scripts can use to identify a browser across sessions — even without cookies. This is called canvas fingerprinting or WebGL fingerprinting.

Privacy browsers like Firefox and Brave address this by rounding, spoofing, or gating access to the debug renderer info extension. If you care about minimising your fingerprint, disabling hardware acceleration or using a browser with anti-fingerprinting measures is the most practical step.

Your GPU does more than 3D graphics

Modern browsers use the GPU for far more than WebGL scenes. Hardware acceleration powers CSS animations, scrolling compositing, video decode, and the upcoming WebGPU API (a lower-level, more explicit successor to WebGL). A healthy GPU and up-to-date driver improve everyday browsing performance, not just games and interactive demos.

If hardware acceleration is disabled in your browser settings, WebGL falls back to a CPU-based software renderer (commonly SwiftShader in Chrome). This still works but runs significantly slower for complex scenes.

To check your screen resolution and pixel ratio, visit What Is My Screen Resolution. To see your full browser and OS version, use What Is My Browser. For your raw user-agent string, try What Is My User Agent.

Privacy note

All detection runs entirely in your browser using local JavaScript APIs. No GPU data is sent to our servers. See our Privacy Policy for how analytics and advertising operate separately from this diagnostic.

Common questions

What is WebGL?
WebGL (Web Graphics Library) is a JavaScript API that lets browsers render 2D and 3D graphics directly on a GPU-accelerated HTML canvas without plug-ins. It is based on OpenGL ES and is supported in all modern browsers. WebGL 1.0 maps to OpenGL ES 2.0; WebGL 2.0 maps to OpenGL ES 3.0 and adds features like transform feedback, multiple render targets, and 3D textures.
Why does the tool show my GPU name?
When available, browsers expose an extension called WEBGL_debug_renderer_info that lets JavaScript read the unmasked GPU renderer and vendor strings — the same strings the graphics driver reports to OpenGL. This reveals your actual GPU model (for example, 'NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080'). Not all browsers expose it: some return a generic string to limit fingerprinting.
What is the difference between WebGL 1 and WebGL 2?
WebGL 2 is a significant upgrade based on OpenGL ES 3.0. It adds instanced rendering, transform feedback, uniform buffer objects, multiple render targets, 3D textures, and higher precision formats. WebGL 1 is still used for maximum device compatibility, especially on older mobile hardware. Most modern desktop and mobile browsers support WebGL 2.
Why is my GPU listed as 'not available' or 'swiftshader'?
Some browsers disable hardware acceleration by default or fall back to a software renderer like SwiftShader (Chrome's CPU-based WebGL fallback) when the GPU driver is unstable. You can usually enable hardware acceleration in your browser's settings. Privacy-focused browsers and some configurations deliberately mask the GPU string to reduce fingerprinting.
Is WebGL a security or privacy risk?
WebGL can expose detailed hardware information that contributes to browser fingerprinting. The combination of GPU model, driver version, supported extensions, and rendering quirks creates a fairly unique profile. Privacy browsers limit what WebGL reports. WebGL has also historically had security bugs where malformed shaders or buffer overflows could reach the GPU driver — browsers sandbox WebGL contexts to contain this risk.
What does max texture size mean?
Max texture size is the largest square texture (width × height) the GPU can handle in a single WebGL draw call. Common values are 4096, 8192, or 16384 pixels on one side. Exceeding this silently scales or clamps the texture. High-resolution terrain maps, panoramas, and atlases need to stay within this limit.
How many WebGL extensions are there, and do they matter?
The WebGL registry defines dozens of optional extensions: anisotropic filtering, half-float textures, depth textures, instanced arrays (in WebGL 1), and many more. Which ones are available depends on your GPU, driver, and browser. Game engines and 3D frameworks check extension support at runtime and enable higher-quality rendering paths when they are present.
Does my GPU affect web browsing beyond 3D graphics?
Yes. Browsers use the GPU for compositing, CSS transforms, canvas 2D, video decode acceleration, and WebGPU (the next-generation successor to WebGL). A capable GPU makes scrolling, animation, video playback, and complex CSS smoother. GPU acceleration can be verified or toggled in your browser's flags or settings page.

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