Chrome window changes color depending on which monitor it's open

After an update Chrome treats its windows differently depending on which monitor the window is running. Instead of explaining what I mean, I'll show a screenshot of two Chrome windows open side by side on both monitors:

This isn't a stitched screenshot, it is a single screenshot of the whole virtual desktop. As you can see, the window on the left is more reddish, and it's not just the content that has its color changed, but the whole window - all of the controls. If more than 50% of the window gets dragged on to the main (right) monitor, the window automatically readjusts its color to default, which is how I found out that it's not a monitor issue.

I don't know what to blame because few hours prior there was a Windows update too. I have never tinkered with color profiles and made sure that all of the settings in Windows are default.

Chrome version: Official build 68.0.3440.75 x64
Windows version: Windows 10 1803 (17134.191) x64

Little Helper

Posted 2018-07-25T17:59:10.820

Reputation: 1 906

2Is it really only chrome that has a problem, or are other apps also a problem? And if you have chrome halfway between both monitors, does it show weird on one monitor and not on the other? – LPChip – 2018-07-25T18:08:41.553

This only happens to Chrome. If the window is halfway between the monitors, the window color depends on which monitor the biggest part of the window is. – Little Helper – 2018-07-25T18:11:19.250

I'm having exactly the same issue (including the color readjusting as soon as more than 50% of the window gets dragged from one monitor to the other). But I'm using Windows 7. Only happens (since... recently) with Chrome 68.0.3440.75 (64-bit) (not Firefox, or any other program). Weird. – leonbloy – 2018-07-25T21:12:00.310

BTW, the reddish screen also shows another color anomaly: in the Gmail site, the (non starred) mails are coloured as cyan. – leonbloy – 2018-07-25T21:50:03.810

Also: https://www.reddit.com/r/chrome/comments/91lx6g/google_chrome_colour_problem/

– leonbloy – 2018-07-26T00:03:35.830

Chromium bugtracker: https://bugs.chromium.org/p/chromium/issues/detail?id=847024

– leonbloy – 2018-07-26T22:50:16.867

Answers

There are multiple solutions for this problem. I've gathered a list here:

Check if the chrome://flags/#force-color-profile setting is set to Default, if not, setting to sRGB is one way to fix it.
Check Color Profiles in Windows settings. This was the culprit for me. The second monitor had "Natural Color Pro" color profile enabled by default, I overrode this setting and removed the profile.
Another fix is having Hardware acceleration disabled. You should use this if none of the above works, because the performance loss is significant on low-end machines.

Thanks to @leonbloy for linking the Reddit thread that had the first two solutions.
Thanks to @Thomas B. SysAdmin for recommending disabling hardware acceleration.

Little Helper

Posted 2018-07-25T17:59:10.820

Reputation: 1 906

My problem only occurred when the window straddled 2 monitors, but this fixed it – Andrey – 2018-07-30T16:16:09.897

That looks exactly like a blue light filter or "night light" in windows 10. Can you check your display settings? Steps:

Click start
Settings
System
Display
In the space below the monitor layout, there should be a toggle for "Night light". Ensure that is toggled off. You may need to click each different display and change the toggle to the off position.

Let us know if that's the issue!

EDIT: BELOW FIXED THE ISSUE FOR USER (refer to comments)

Try clicking the 3 dots in the top right > settings > scroll down and click "Advanced" > find "Use hardware acceleration when available" (you can ctrl+f to find it faster) > disable that setting and restart chrome

Thomas B.

Posted 2018-07-25T17:59:10.820

Reputation: 144

I do use night light feature but it only turns on past midnight, so right now it is disabled. – Little Helper – 2018-07-25T18:13:56.913

Hmm okay. Let's try this next then. If it's only happening in chrome, try clicking the 3 dots in the top right > settings > scroll down and click "Advanced" > find "Use hardware acceleration when available" (you can ctrl+f to find it faster) > disable that setting and restart chrome. – Thomas B. – 2018-07-25T18:26:36.680

Good idea. That fixed it! But now I assume Chrome will be a tad slower. Thanks though! – Little Helper – 2018-07-25T18:34:12.530

I don't think this is the issue. For one thing, it also happens (to me, exactly as described) with Windows 7. – leonbloy – 2018-07-25T21:14:59.053

@leonbloy I edited my answer with what fixed it for Little Helper. Sorry for the delay. – Thomas B. – 2018-07-25T21:20:00.483

1Yes, disabling "hardware acceleration when available" in Chrome removes the issue. However, I'm not sure if I want to lose the performance advantage for the sake of removing this (admittedly not big) inconvenience. I would like to know the cause, if this is some kind of bug that should be reported to Chrome or what. – leonbloy – 2018-07-25T21:25:39.253

Yes, if you're experiencing the issue, I'd report it to google. You can include a screenshot, as well as a description by opening chrome, and pressing Alt+Shift+I. It could be limited to specific hardware or drivers, as it's not impacting everybody. – Thomas B. – 2018-07-25T21:30:10.477