Brave on Linux constantly stuttering/freezing

I am running OpenSUSE Tumbleweed with KDE Plasma 6.2.5 and have Brave installed from the default repos using zypper, current version is 1.73.104. I have noticed ever since installing that every ~3-15 seconds or so, the entire browser freezes/stutters for a fraction of a second. This isn’t just when playing videos, opening multiple windows, etc. - I can have just a single window open with a single tab containing a really basic text page and I can still notice it e.g. while scrolling or trying to interact with the UI.

I use Wayland primarily, but I confirmed the problem also exists when logging in w/ X11.

I’ve been using testufo.com for testing, and I noticed that whenever it freezes, it will display “Syncing - Browser pause detected” for a second or so after it unfreezes.

I was able to seemingly fix the issue by enabling the flag #enable-vulkan and relaunching. (I’m not 100% sure why, but in order for #enable-vulkan to show up in brave://flags, I have to first enable #temporary-unexpire-flags-m130 and relaunch.) Unfortunately, enabling Vulkan also breaks video playback (audio still plays, but video is just a white screen), so it’s not a long term solution.

Searching Brave Comminity:

https://community.brave.com/search?q=Linux%20wayland%20acceleration%20order%3Alatest

First search result is some guidance:

Crash when double clicking title bar under Wayland - #6 by Mattches

Thanks for the reply. I have tried disabling graphics acceleration, and all it does is make the browser a bit laggier; the issue is definitely still there. And as mentioned, I’ve been noticing this from the moment I installed Brave, so I really don’t think it’s related to any of my browsing data, extensions, flags, etc. (I have very little browsing data as I’ve mostly been using Firefox due to this issue, I only have Bitwarden & Nighteye extensions installed, and my only flag is setting #ozone-platform-hint to Wayland as it fixes a couple minor bugs.)

Please

so that you are prepared for subsequent steps.

Running thru a checklist, a process of elimination, can help to clarify paths for more investigation. Yet, how you proceed, is up to you.


Clear cookies, cache, history, etc.

In a Brave Browser New Window, go to:

brave://settings/clearBrowserData

Select the Advanced tab

Set Time range to “All time”

ENABLE everything except:

  • Passwords and other sign-in data

Click on the “Clear data” button


Please test, using a BB New Private Window - compared to using only a BB. New Window.


brave://flags/ - there, search for “accele” and:

Two switches that might apply (if they exist):

  • Accelerated 2D canvas
  • Hardware-accelerated video encode

Some Brave Browser users search there, for:

  • ANGLE
  • D3D11
  • Metal
  • NVIDIA
  • OpenGL
  • Vulkan
  • WebGL

and Disable or Enable as they see fit.


You might create an additional Brave Browser Profile, for testing.

Brave Support might ask you to test by using Brave Browser Beta:


Take a look at the Brave Browser Task Manager, in order to learn more. Click on the “hamburger” menu button (3 small horizontal lines) at the upper-right corner of the Brave Browser webpage. Choose More Tools. And then, click Task Manager.


Usually, in a Linux OS command line, you can start Brave Browser with one of the following commands:

brave -n --args --incognito --no-experiments --disable-extensions --disable-gpu

or

brave-browser -n --args --incognito --no-experiments --disable-extensions --disable-gpu

In order to determine which of those, to use, in a Brave Browser New Window, go to: “brave://version”

Scroll down to “Command line”

The beginnings of that command line character string, will indicate to you, which of those commands to use.

The switches are intended to:

  • Start up Brave Browser, showing a New Private Window
  • Disable all experiments at brave://flags
  • Disable extensions
  • Disable GPU ie disable Hardware Acceleration

Test your issue.


Linux OS:

The important BraveSoftware folder location, usually but not always:

/home/[username]/.config/BraveSoftware/

OR, in a Brave Browser New Window, go to:

brave://version

and scroll down to “Profile Path” - that path very likely ending with “Default” - and locate the “BraveSoftware” folder in that path.

That is a folder to be backed up routinely, IMHO.


You might monitor the Developer Tools window > Network tab, to see what might be hanging or looping.

How to use Developer Tools:

Developer Tools > Network:


You might compare the Developer Tools > Network tabs of:

  • Brave Browser
  • Firefox
  • Google Chrome
  • Micrsoft Edge
  • some other Internet browser

Tips regarding Brave Shields:

I have more success, with:

  • Brave Shields UP
  • Either Allow All Cookies or Block 3rd Party Cookies, but NOT Blocking All Cookies
  • Allowing JavaScripts from specific sources, but NOT Allowing All JavaScripts
  • Trackers & Ads treatment: Aggressive (at first), and then incrementally relaxing that setting
  • Fingerprinting (aka footprinting) blocking: Strict (at first), and then incrementally relaxing that setting

I almost NEVER use:

  • All of Brave Shields UP
  • All of Brave Shields DOWN

In other words, I “inch my way along” . . . trying to find what satisfies the website. I recommend the slow approach.


Study:

Shields Basics

https://support.brave.com/hc/en-us/categories/360001053072-Shields

How do I configure global and site-specific Shields settings?

https://support.brave.com/hc/en-us/articles/360023646212-How-do-I-configure-global-and-site-specific-Shields-settings

How do I use Shields while browsing?

https://support.brave.com/hc/en-us/articles/360022806212-How-do-I-use-Shields-while-browsing


I think it is still worth testing against. Can you please try creating a fresh profile (Menu --> More tools --> Add profile), closing your original profile window, and then testign again to see if the issue occurs in the new profile?

@289wk @Mattches Thanks for the replies, I believe I found what the issue is.

First of all, I tried all of the following, with no effect on the behavior:

  1. Creating a new profile, restarting Brave and selecting that new profile
  2. Using a private window (from the new profile)
  3. Clearing browsing data (cookies, history, cache, history, etc.) and restarting

However, I noticed that when running using the following command:

brave-browser -n --args --incognito --no-experiments --disable-extensions --disable-gpu

The issue seemed to be resolved.

I then tried completely reinstalling Brave, and deleting the folder ~/.config/BraveSoftware, and could not reproduce the issue after going through the initial setup.

I believe the issue is caused by the flag #ozone-platform-hint. I have been in the habit of immediately setting this flag to “Wayland” in chromium-based browsers due to the fact that it resolves some odd issues when running on Wayland (e.g. touchpad scrolling feels pretty bad without it, and there’s a ~1px line at the top of the window even when maximized which cannot be clicked on, so attempting to e.g. select a tab by clicking on that top pixel of the screen just selects the window behind Brave). I previously tested disabling it & setting it back to X11, but I had no luck. However, I believe it was actually not fully taking effect even after relaunching Brave after changing the flag. In my testing just now, in order to have the flag actually take effect, it seems like just relaunching is not sufficient, and I have to fully pkill the Brave processes and re-open the browser manually.

TL;DR I’m pretty sure the issue is caused by the #ozone-platform-hint flag. Unfortunately, there are some other issues that occur when #ozone-platform-hint is set to the default (X11), so I’m probably just going to use FIrefox until this is resolved and I can use Wayland as the preferred Ozone platform backend without the hitching/stuttering issues.

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Please mark YOUR reply as the Solution.

(Please DO NOT mark my reply, here, as the solution.)

@kolgann excellent sleuthing. I’ll be passing this information on the to the Linux team for review.

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@Mattches Great, thank you! I know Electron/Chromium and Wayland still aren’t the best of friends so I’m not 100% sure whether or not this is specific to Brave. But if there’s anything the Brave team can figure out, even if it’s just finding something that needs fixed in Electron/Chromium, that’ll be huge.

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Running Brave on Linux Mint/Cinnamon … no issues

@willcatejr Are you running Wayland or X11? This issue seems to be exclusive to Wayland.