Place two stops on the desk, such as the edge of the keyboard and a book. Push the mouse from one to the other, and rest after each push.
TipSlow pushes take 1.2 s or longer, quick ones under 0.3 s. Rest at the stop after each push.
With mouse acceleration on, a quick move takes the cursor further than a slow one over the same 1 cm. With it off, each count moves the cursor the same number of pixels: a flat line on the chart.
A count from the mouse can take one of two routes: through the system, where pointer speed and acceleration turn it into cursor movement, or straight to a game as raw input. Acceleration only happens on the first.
The desktop cursor goes through the system, so how far it travels can change with speed.
Games that use raw input get the mouse's counts; pointer settings do not apply.
Part 1 counts raw counts per push and Part 2 the cursor's pixels; comparing them shows acceleration.
Over the same distance, it checks whether the system cursor moves the same number of pixels on slow and quick pushes. If quick pushes go further, Enhance pointer precision on Windows, pointer acceleration on macOS, or driver acceleration is on.
This Windows mouse option makes how far the cursor travels depend on how fast you move: less on slow moves, for small targets, and further on quick moves, to save hand travel.
With it on, the same hand motion turns a different amount at different speeds, which makes muscle memory harder to build. Most shooters use raw input and skip system acceleration, but menus and games without raw input are still affected.
On Windows, clear Enhance pointer precision in the mouse settings. On macOS, turn off Pointer acceleration. If your mouse driver has an acceleration option, turn that off too. Then test again here to confirm.
Raw input, or raw cursor input, means the counts the mouse reports, with no pointer speed or acceleration applied. Part 1 uses the browser's raw movement to know each push's counts. To watch it live, draw in the trail area on the home page. Mouse tester →
A page gets only one kind of movement at a time: raw counts or the processed cursor movement, never both for the same push. The stops fix the distance, so slow and quick pushes can be compared.
Firefox, Safari and some other browsers do not provide raw movement, so the page only compares cursor movement on slow and quick pushes. Keep the stops firm. Chrome or Edge on a computer is more accurate.
Newer macOS versions have a Pointer acceleration switch in the mouse settings under Advanced. Older versions have no switch: lower the pointer speed, or use raw input in games.
Many mouse drivers have their own acceleration or precision option on top of the system. A quick push may also have bounced off a stop, so follow the prompts and test again.
At the default Windows pointer speed, each count moves 1 pixel. A faster or slower pointer speed changes this gain, and display scaling affects it too. It has no effect on the acceleration result.