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Stop Screen Tearing on Ubuntu

Intel graphics on Linux usually aren’t too much of a problem. That’s probably because integrated graphics usually have fewer features, and the Intel driver stack is mostly open source. For screen tearing on Intel, the solution usually comes in the form of some additional configuration.

Because Intel uses open source drivers, the Xorg configuration is going to be your most direct route. Create a file at /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/20-intel.conf or /usr/share/X11/xorg.conf/20-intel.conf, then place the following block of code inside:

Section "Device"
Identifier "Intel Graphics"
Driver "intel"
Option "TearFree" "true"
EndSection

When you’re done, save and reboot.

reboot
  1. Use the NVIDIA proprietary driver
  2. Open the NVIDIA X Server Settings app
  3. Select the X Server Display Configuration
  4. Click on the Advanced button and check Force Composition Pipeline option
  5. Click on the button Save to X Configuration file to set it at startup

Tip

Fix For Firefox 1. Go to about:config 2. Select layers.acceleration.force-enabled and set to true

  1. Create a new configuration directory /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/ 

    sudo mkdir -p /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/

  2. Use your favorite text editor to create a configuration file called 20-radeon.conf: 

    sudo vim /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/20-radeon.conf

  3. Put the information below inside the 20-radeon.conf file and then save and exit the file: 

    Section "Device"
    Identifier "Radeon"
    Driver "radeon"
    Option "TearFree" "on"
EndSection

  4. Reboot your system for the new configuration to take effect. 

    reboot

X. If you still notice some screen tearing after preforming the steps above, then you'll need to edit the 20-radeon.conf file to include an extra option. Use your text editor to edit the 20-radeon.conf file to include the AccelMethod and DRI options and then reboot your system. 

sudo vim /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/20-radeon.conf


Section "Device"
    Identifier "Radeon"
    Driver "radeon"
    Option "TearFree" "on"
    Option "DRI" "3"
    Option "AccelMethod" "glamor"
EndSection

reboot