What GPU does my browser see?
Vendor and renderer are two different questions. Knowing the vendor puts you in one of a few large groups; knowing the renderer can put you in a group of a few thousand. This card is the mild one. Its neighbour, the WebGL renderer, is the one that matters for how identifiable you are.
What this number actually means
The string above is the WebGL unmasked renderer, which is the closest a web page can get to naming your graphics hardware. It is a text label the driver supplies, not a hardware query, so it can be precise (a full chip and driver name), vague (a vendor and a family) or entirely generic, depending on your browser and platform. There is no web API at all for GPU core counts, clock speeds or video memory, so any page claiming to report those is guessing.
The graphics processor your browser reports is shown above. Browsers do not expose your GPU directly, so we read it from the WebGL renderer string, which is the closest thing to a hardware name that a web page can see. It typically identifies your integrated or discrete graphics chip and sometimes the driver.
This is a browser-level view, so it may be less specific than what your operating system's device manager shows. Some browsers deliberately generalise the value, reporting a category (like a generic vendor) rather than the exact model, to reduce fingerprinting.
If you want the definitive answer for troubleshooting or gaming, check your operating system's display or device settings. What this page shows is precisely what websites can learn about your graphics hardware, which is the more interesting question for privacy.
How a website reads this
This is the exact call a page makes. Nothing else is involved, and nothing is sent anywhere: the value is read in your browser and displayed to you.
gl.getParameter(gl.getExtension('WEBGL_debug_renderer_info').UNMASKED_VENDOR_WEBGL)The vendor half of the same WebGL lookup: who made the chip, rather than which chip it is. Coarser than the renderer string and correspondingly less identifying.
- Needs your permission
- No, it is read silently
- Can it be faked
- Partly. Masked or randomised by the same tools that handle the renderer string.
- Contribution to a fingerprint
- About 2 bits, our own estimate. Our estimate. A small number of vendors cover almost every device, so the vendor alone narrows the crowd far less than the renderer does. It is counted separately here to make that difference visible. How we estimate this.
What does my GPU string look like and why?
The shape of the string tells you as much as its content: it reveals how much your browser is willing to disclose.
| What you see | What it means | Typical setup |
|---|---|---|
| A full name with vendor, model and driver, such as a specific discrete card | Your browser is disclosing the unmasked renderer in full | Chrome or Edge on Windows with WEBGL_debug_renderer_info available |
| A vendor plus a family, without a precise model | Partly generalised by the browser or the driver | Chromium on Linux or Android, depending on the driver |
| An Apple style label rather than a chip name | Apple reports a deliberately coarse renderer | Safari on macOS, iPhone or iPad |
| A generic label with no vendor at all | The debug renderer extension is unavailable, so only the base WebGL renderer shows | Firefox with resistFingerprinting, or a browser with the extension disabled |
| Nothing at all | WebGL is unavailable or blocked in this context | Hardware acceleration turned off, an extension blocking WebGL, or a locked down browser |
None of these outcomes is an error. They are five different answers to the question of how much a website is entitled to know about your graphics hardware.
How many GPU cores do I have?
No website can tell you, including this one. The web platform exposes no API for GPU core counts, shader unit counts, video memory or clock speeds. navigator.hardwareConcurrency covers CPU logical processors only and has no graphics equivalent.
What a page can do is read the renderer string above and, at most, probe which WebGL or WebGPU capabilities and limits your driver advertises. Those limits describe what the driver will allow, such as maximum texture size, not how the silicon is built.
For the real figure, use your operating system or the vendor tool. On Windows, Task Manager then Performance then GPU shows the model and dedicated memory, and dxdiag gives more detail. On macOS, About This Mac then More Info lists the GPU core count on Apple Silicon. On Linux, lspci grep VGA identifies the card and the vendor tools report the rest.
Why does my browser show a different GPU than my system does?
Three common reasons. The first is masking: browsers generalise the renderer string on purpose, because a precise chip and driver name is one of the most identifying things a page can read. Safari has always reported a coarse value and other browsers have moved in the same direction.
The second is hybrid graphics. A laptop with both integrated and discrete graphics hands the browser whichever adapter the system assigned to it, and that is often the integrated one for power reasons even though the discrete card exists. So the browser is right about what it is using and your specification sheet is right about what you own.
The third is the browser's own configuration. If hardware acceleration is off, or a security policy blocks WebGL, the renderer is a software rasteriser rather than your hardware at all.
What can a website learn about me from my GPU?
This is one of the strongest passive fingerprinting signals available, and it is worth understanding why. A browser name is shared with hundreds of millions of people. A full renderer string that names a specific chip and driver version is shared with a far smaller group, and it stays stable until you change hardware or update a driver.
It also gets combined with canvas and WebGL rendering tests, where the same drawing operation produces subtly different pixel output on different hardware and drivers. The renderer string tells a script which family to expect and the rendered output confirms it.
The counter is not to hide the string in isolation, which can itself be distinctive, but to use a browser that normalises the whole graphics surface. Tor Browser and Firefox with resistFingerprinting do this deliberately, at the cost of some WebGL performance and compatibility.
What you should know
Why sites collect it
Graphics-heavy sites read the GPU to enable or disable effects, pick shader quality, and dodge known driver bugs. Analytics may record it to understand the hardware their audience runs.
Privacy implications
Because a specific GPU model is far less common than a browser name, it is a strong fingerprinting signal, the same concern as the WebGL renderer it comes from. Reporting a unique GPU makes your device stand out; a masked or generic value helps you blend in.
How to change or hide it
Use a privacy browser that generalises or blocks the WebGL renderer to limit GPU exposure. For accurate hardware details for your own use, rely on your operating system rather than the browser, which intentionally sees less.
Frequently asked questions
Is this my exact graphics card model?
Often, but not always. The browser reads it from WebGL and may generalise it. For the definitive model, check your operating system's device settings.
How many GPU cores do I have?
No website can tell you. The web platform exposes no API for GPU core counts, memory or clock speeds. Check Task Manager on Windows, About This Mac on macOS, or your vendor tool on Linux.
Why does my browser show my integrated GPU instead of my graphics card?
On a hybrid laptop the system usually hands the browser the integrated adapter to save power, so the browser is reporting what it is actually rendering with rather than the best card you own.
Why does my GPU matter for privacy?
A specific GPU is uncommon compared with a browser name, so it strongly narrows your device in a fingerprint. That is why privacy browsers mask it.
Sources
Browser behaviour changes and vendors cap these values differently, so the claims above that are not self-evident are checked against the specifications and vendor documentation below.
Last checked on . How these values are measured and estimated is set out on the methodology page.
Something wrong here? Tell us what your browser reports and it gets corrected.