A separate system title bar can use extra vertical space above a browser's tabs on Linux. Google Chrome and Chromium can hide this bar and display the window controls in the tab strip.

The system title bar is the strip the desktop draws above the browser, showing the page title and the desktop's own window buttons. Turning it off removes only that strip, so the tabs and address bar stay where they are, as the upper and lower windows above show.

Use system title bar and borders is a Linux setting, and the browser lists it only when the desktop session supports server-side window decorations, as KDE Plasma does. Chromium 156 on the default GNOME Wayland session of Ubuntu 26.04 does not list it, and the window there has no system title bar to hide.

Step-by-step video guide:

Steps to hide the system title bar in Google Chrome and Chromium:

  1. Open Google Chrome or Chromium.
  2. Open chrome://settings/appearance from the location bar.
  3. Scroll to Use system title bar and borders in the Appearance section.

    If the option is not listed, the desktop session does not offer the browser a system title bar, and the bar above the tabs belongs to the browser.

  4. Turn off Use system title bar and borders to hide the bar.
  5. Verify that the title bar above the tabs is gone and the window controls now sit at the end of the tab strip.
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