I feel this can't be fixed for Xorg sessions (other than choosing a
multiple of 100%) because the buffer scaling is done outside of the
compositor in the Xorg server.
We can however control the situation for Wayland sessions, so if you
find similar problems in a Wayland session then please open a new bug
about it.
** Tags removed: xrandr-fractional-scaling
** Tags added: xrandr-scaling
** Changed in: mutter (Ubuntu Noble)
Status: Triaged => Won't Fix
** Changed in: mutter (Ubuntu Plucky)
Status: Triaged => Won't Fix
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https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/2119415
Title:
Xorg fractional scaling is making fullscreen games blurry
Status in mutter package in Ubuntu:
Invalid
Status in mutter source package in Noble:
Won't Fix
Status in mutter source package in Plucky:
Won't Fix
Status in mutter source package in Questing:
Invalid
Bug description:
I've found that nvidia-settings is not supported in Ubuntu 25.04, at least
the settings are not saved.
Resolution and refresh rate are managed in Settings\Display but I find
playing games creates remarkable eye-strain which leads to blurred vision and I
fear other vision problems longer term.
I've found multiple accounts of people running into this and returning
to Windows. I don't see an alternative given the seriousness of my
vision problems. I've uninstalled my games and have a dual boot setup
to support gaming, but the ENTIRE reasoning for this is protecting my
eyes from Ubuntu's video implementation.
Here is one account of someone dealing with this problem:
https://www.reddit.com/r/linuxquestions/comments/180fav0/linux_is_killing_my_eyes_to_the_point_im_back_on/
Trying to keep up with Nvidia is quite the task, but given Nvidia's
place in the GPU market, it has to be done.
Here are settings in nvidia-settings that are not supported in
Settings\Display I've tried fiddling with to reduce eye strain:
XScreen0\OpenGL Settings\Image Settings --> High Quality
XScreen0\Antialias Settings\ --> Enable FXAA
XScreen0\Antialias Settings\Anisotropic Filtering --> Override Application
Settings\16x
GPU0(Nvidia RTX4090)\DP-4(Samsung LS49AG95)\Controls\Color Space -->
YCbCr444 [does not change from RGB]
Root Cause: beats me. There are so many options and esoteric features
involved with GPUs and video performance, I don't have the background to try to
uncover what medically is going on, but it's clearly bad. This is a real
problem, and the consequences for Linux users are real. Driving home last
night I found all street lights had a complex, somewhat pixelated haze around
them.
Possible Approaches:
- Reach out to Nvidia. They have the resources to dig into the medical
affects of poor video configurations. Perhaps they would fund an initiative to
support this work.
- Review the research:
----here is research-----
Digital Eye Strain: A Comprehensive Review
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40123-022-00540-9
Management of Digital Eye Strain
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1111/cxo.12798
Eye-related pain induced by visually demanding computer work
https://journals.lww.com/optvissci/fulltext/2012/04000/eye_related_pain_induced_by_visually_demanding.13.aspx
Image Modification to Reduce Eye Strain
https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-030-88919-7_17
---
ProblemType: Bug
ApportVersion: 2.32.0-0ubuntu5.3
Architecture: amd64
CasperMD5CheckResult: pass
CurrentDesktop: ubuntu:GNOME
DisplayManager: gdm3
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 25.04
InstallationDate: Installed on 2025-04-13 (113 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 24.04.2 LTS "Noble Numbat" - Release amd64
(20250215)
Package: gnome-shell 48.0-1ubuntu1
PackageArchitecture: amd64
ProcEnviron:
LANG=en_US.UTF-8
PATH=(custom, no user)
SHELL=/bin/bash
TERM=xterm-256color
XDG_RUNTIME_DIR=<set>
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 6.14.0-27.27-generic 6.14.6
RelatedPackageVersions: mutter-common 48.1-1ubuntu3.1
Tags: plucky
Uname: Linux 6.14.0-27-generic x86_64
UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to plucky on 2025-07-27 (8 days ago)
UserGroups: adm cdrom dip lpadmin plugdev sudo users
_MarkForUpload: True
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