Mozilla Releases Emergency Patch to Fix Nvidia GPU Artifacts in Firefox 139.0.1

Mozilla has released an emergency patch, Firefox 139.0.1, to address a significant bug affecting users with Nvidia graphics cards. The issue, which began with the launch of Firefox 139.0 on May 27th, caused visual artifacts and screen corruption in multi-monitor setups with different refresh rates. Specifically, when 60 FPS media was playing on a secondary monitor, interactions with a primary display set to a higher refresh rate, like 144 Hz, triggered these graphical glitches. The release of Firefox 139.0 included several notable features, such as customizable new tab backgrounds and full-page translations via supported extensions. However, soon after the update became available, numerous forum posts and Reddit threads flooded with reports of the annoying visual issues. It quickly became apparent that the bug was related to Mozilla's decision to deactivate a blocklist that previously prevented the use of DirectComposition with certain Nvidia configurations. DirectComposition is a Windows feature that helps manage how graphics are displayed on the screen. The blocklist was originally in place to avoid compatibility issues in multi-monitor setups with mixed refresh rates. Users found a temporary workaround by disabling the gfx.webrender.dcomp-video-hw-overlay-win flag in Firefox settings. The rationale behind removing the blocklist remains unclear. A Mozilla developer noted that Firefox manages graphical buffers differently compared to other browsers, using "Surfaces" rather than "Swapchains" with Windows DirectComposition. Additionally, the developer mentioned a new Layer Compositor that changes how elements are rendered on the screen. This new approach might have led to the initial removal of the blocklist, though the exact reasons are uncertain. This particular bug does not affect users with Intel or AMD graphics cards, nor those with single-monitor setups. Firefox 139.0.1 focuses exclusively on fixing the visual artifacting issue, so don’t expect any additional features or fixes. To resolve the problem, you can either manually disable the gfx.webrender.dcomp-video-hw-overlay-win flag or update your browser to the latest version. To update, navigate to the menu button (three horizontal lines) at the top-right corner of Firefox, select "Help," and then "About Firefox." The browser will automatically check for and install available updates. For the latest tech news, analysis, and reviews, follow Tom's Hardware on Google News. Click the "Follow" button to stay updated in your feeds.