Display technology has advanced rapidly over recent years, with 1080p high-DPI laptops, 1440p productivity monitors, and ultra-sharp 4K external panels becoming the standard workstation setup. However, configuring display scaling on Linux desktop environments historically posed a dilemma. By default, the GNOME desktop on Ubuntu only offered whole-integer scaling options: 100% or 200%.
On a 14-inch 1080p laptop or a 27-inch 1440p monitor, 100% scaling makes application menus, browser text, and icons uncomfortably microscopic. Conversely, switching to 200% scaling makes desktop windows gargantuan, consuming valuable screen real estate. The solution is Fractional Scaling, which provides granular intermediate zoom levels such as 125%, 150%, and 175%. This guide details how to activate and optimise fractional scaling in Ubuntu.
Wayland vs X11 Display Servers
Before enabling fractional scaling, it is helpful to understand the underlying graphics architecture of your Ubuntu system:
- Wayland Session (Default): Ubuntu uses the modern Wayland display protocol by default. Wayland natively handles mixed-DPI multi-monitor configurations and renders fractional scaling smoothly without tearing.
- X11 / Xorg Session: If you use dedicated legacy graphics drivers or specific screen capture tools that require Xorg, fractional scaling works by rendering the desktop at a higher virtual resolution and downscaling it. This may cause slight software rendering overhead on older GPUs.
Enabling Fractional Scaling in Ubuntu Settings
On Ubuntu 22.04 LTS, 24.04 LTS, and newer releases, fractional scaling can be enabled directly from the graphical desktop interface:
- Click the System Menu in the top-right corner of the top panel (battery/volume cluster) and open Settings.
- In the left sidebar, navigate to Displays.
- If you have multiple monitors attached, click the display rectangle you wish to configure.
- Locate the Fractional Scaling toggle switch and slide it to On.
- Additional scaling increments will immediately appear above the toggle: 100%, 125%, 150%, 175%, and 200%.
- Select your preferred zoom percentage—125% is generally ideal for 1080p laptops and 1440p panels, while 150% offers optimal legibility on 28-inch to 32-inch 4K screens.
- Click the green Apply button in the top right corner.
- A confirmation dialogue will display for 20 seconds. If the picture looks crisp and stable, click Keep Changes.
Enabling Fractional Scaling via Terminal (GNOME dconf)
If the fractional scaling toggle is hidden or you are configuring a remote workstation, you can enable the feature directly using terminal commands.
For Wayland Sessions:
gsettings set org.gnome.mutter experimental-features "['scale-monitor-framebuffer']"For X11 / Xorg Sessions:
gsettings set org.gnome.mutter experimental-features "['x11-randr-fractional-scaling']"To verify the active setting, execute:
gsettings get org.gnome.mutter experimental-featuresOnce set, reopen Settings > Displays to choose your preferred scale factor.
Fixing Blurry Text in Electron and Legacy Apps
While native GNOME and GTK4 apps look pin-sharp under fractional scaling, legacy X11 applications or Electron-based tools (such as Google Chrome, VS Code, Discord, and Slack) running under Wayland through XWayland may occasionally render slightly blurry text. You can resolve this easily by launching them with native Wayland flags:
- Google Chrome & Brave: Navigate to
chrome://flags, search for Preferred Ozone platform, and change the dropdown from “Default” to Wayland. - VS Code: Launch the editor with the following flag:
code --enable-features=UseOzonePlatform --ozone-platform=wayland
This forces the applications to bypass legacy scaling filters and render razor-sharp vector fonts directly through the Wayland compositor.
Reverting Back to Standard Integer Scaling
If you experience any graphics anomalies or wish to restore factory display scaling defaults, disable the experimental flag with a single command:
gsettings reset org.gnome.mutter experimental-featuresThen return to Settings > Displays and choose 100% or 200%.