Microsoft improves text contrast for all Windows Chromium browsers

​Microsoft says it improved the contrast of text rendered in all Chromium-based web browsers on Windows, making it more readable on some displays.

This was done by bringing the company's enhanced text contrast and gamma correction in the Chromium open-source project, making enhanced font rendering available for all Windows Chromium-based browsers, including Google Chrome version 132, released on January 14.

Windows users can also use the ClearType Text Tuner tool to adjust text contrast and gamma values, which can be launched by searching for "Adjust ClearType text" in the Start menu.

"This way, the quality and clarity of the text that's displayed in all browsers that are based on Chromium now match that of other native Windows applications," Microsoft said.

"With the text contrast enhancement we made to Chromium, the Windows ClearType Text Tuner now also applies to the browser."

​Microsoft says the Skia text rendering engine is behind the blurry text issues experienced by various Chromium-based web browsers. This engine renders "lighter text" in Chromium, which is "especially noticeable in CJK characters."

Legacy Microsoft Edge didn't have this issue because it used the DirectWrite DirectX API like all native Windows applications, ensuring it followed system-wide text rendering settings.

However, once Microsoft switched to Chromium, Edge also inherited the text blurriness problems because Chromium only uses DirectWrite "for some parts of the text-rendering pipeline" and Skia for the rest.

The company asked Microsoft Edge users for feedback on the new text rendering changes (via Settings and more (…) > Help and feedback > Send feedback) and advised those using other Chromium-based web browsers to open a new issue on the Chromium bug tracker.

In June 2021, the Microsoft Edge Team rolled out another round of font rendering improvements to Edge Canary builds. This update ensured the browser respected user ClearType Tuner settings when applying gamma corrections and text contrast enhancements.