I run Fedora on a laptop with a 2K (QHD) screen at a 3:2 ratio, but the only scaling options GNOME offers me out-of-the-box are 100% or 200%.

Sadly, neither is ideal.

Fedora Workstation (with GNOME Shell) defaults to 200 percent scaling on my display. While text, UI elements, and the desktop shell look beautifully crisp on my display it renders everything far too large to be useful.

However, if I switch to 100 percent scaling (at my laptop’s native resolution of 2256×1504) everything becomes way ᵗᵒᵒ ˢᵐᵃˡˡ:

Without wanting to sound all Goldilocks about it, it seems my scaling sweet-spot is a value somewhere those two, at 125 percent or 150 percent – i.e., fractional scaling.

So how can I set my display scaling to 125 percent in Fedora?

Like Fedora, Ubuntu uses GNOME Shell and Wayland and has a toggle to enable fractional scaling (including 125% and 150%) out-of-the-box. These interim values provide a properly proportioned experience on higher-resolution displays.

Fedora (or rather upstream GNOME) does not enable fractional scaling by default.

But you can enable fractional scaling in Fedora (with GNOME Shell) from the command-line.

Let’s take a look at how.

Unlock Fractional Scaling in Fedora

Open a new Terminal window and enter this command carefully. It enables the ‘experimental’ feature for ‘scale-monitor-framebuffer’ – aka fractional scaling:

gsettings set org.gnome.mutter experimental-features "['scale-monitor-framebuffer']"

Hit enter and you’re done!

Now, go back to Settings > Display panel and look for the drop down menu in the ‘scale’ section.

You’ll find that 125%, 150%, and other fractional scaling values are available to pick from:

All good—so why is this feature hidden?

There is a downside.

Fractional scaling in GNOME is an experimental feature right now, which is the reason it’s not enabled by default.

Unlike Ubuntu (and Linux distros based on it), the version of GNOME in Fedora lacks out-of-branch optimizations that let fractional scaling to work —and work well.

Due to this, you should only enable fractional scaling in Fedora Workstation (GNOME Shell version) on the understanding that it may increase power usage, introduce screen tearing and/or cause other visual glitches in select apps.

If you notice performance issues after enabling fractional scaling on Fedora first switch back to a round scale (100% or 200%) and then disable fractional scaling by running this command:

gsettings set org.gnome.mutter experimental-features "[]"

So far, in my testing, fractional scaling works as well on Fedora as it does on Ubuntu, which isn’t quite so why about offering it.

I’m yet to notice any major slowdowns or performance impact from using it, and battery life seems consistent with Ubuntu on the same device — but your milage will, invariably, vary.

That is how to enable fractional scaling in Fedora —if you’re using the GNOME desktop and you’re aware of the potential issues that may occur from enabling it.

Do you have a high-resolution display that you’d like to be able to use fractional scaling (without issues) in Fedora on?

Let me know how you manage things in the comments.