Compatibility

Browser compatibility is really runtime compatibility

The name of the browser matters less than the capabilities it exposes and how reliably it behaves under sustained inference. For local AI, support should be measured by completion and stability, not only by whether a feature appears in a capability list.

Practical expectation

Modern Chromium-based browsers generally provide the strongest path for WebGPU today, but compatibility still varies with operating system, drivers, GPU class, memory pressure, and model choice. This is why Cowslator treats fallback as a design requirement rather than a rare edge case.

Why broad support needs multiple backends

Accelerated path

WebGPU can offer much better throughput on supported devices, especially for larger workloads.

Portable path

WASM remains important because not every user has a GPU configuration that behaves well during long transcription sessions.