How to disable GeForce Experience in-game overlay

This tutorial shows how to turn off or disable GeForce Experience in-game overlay. In addition to that, we will also show you how you can disable in-game overlay notification, Instant Replay feature, and Instant Replay overlay icon in the NVIDIA GeForce Experience utility. While these features are pretty useful for sure, sometimes, if you don’t need such features or you experience any trouble or difficulty, then you can disable in-game overlay and other options at your convenience. Before doing that, let’s have some more information about the in-game overlay.

What is GeForce Experience in-game overlay?

In-game overlay (also known as overlay) is a part of the GeForce Experience application. You can download the GeForce Experience app from nvidia.com and install it if you want to use it. Now, when this app is running or enabled, you can use the in-game overlay toolbar to access and use the features (including ShadowPlay features) like Instant Replay, Broadcast, Record, etc., to auto-record the last 20 minutes of the gameplay at 60 FPS, live broadcast your gameplay to YouTube or Twitch, toggle mic and camera for recording, access saved recordings, keyboard shortcuts, and more.

So, this quick toolbar is quite useful. Therefore, many gamers like to enable or turn on the in-game overlay. But those who don’t need it and want to disable it can do this with some easy steps covered in this post below.

How to disable GeForce Experience in-game overlay

The steps to disable GeForce Experience in-game overlay are as follows:

1. Run the GeForce Experience application
2. Right-click on its system tray icon
3. Select the NVIDIA GeForce Experience option to open its interface
4. Sign in to your NVIDIA account if you aren’t already
5. Click on the Settings icon (or the gear icon) in the top right corner available just before your profile icon
6. In the GENERAL section, look for the IN-GAME OVERLAY option and turn it off.

Now the in-game overlay will be disabled completely.

In case you want to enable GeForce Experience in-game overlay later, you can follow the above steps, and turn on the IN-GAME OVERLAY button.

Related: Fix NVIDIA GeForce Experience overlay not working on Windows PC

Turn on or off GeForce Experience in-game overlay using a hotkey

This option doesn’t disable in-game overlay but is pretty useful to toggle this feature on/off. All you have to do is press the Alt+Z hotkey and the in-game overlay will be in front of you. And, pressing the same hotkey will turn off the in-game overlay feature.

Change hotkey to turn on or off GeForce Experience in-game overlay

In case the default hotkey (which is Alt+Z) is not convenient or the key combination is already in use, then you can also change the hotkey to turn on/off GeForce in-game overlay. For this, follow these steps:

1. Run the GeForce Experience app
2. Use its system tray icon (or taskbar icon) and open its context menu
3. Click on the NVIDIA GeForce Experience option to open its main interface
4. Click on the Share icon to open the in-game overlay
5. Press the Settings icon. It is present on the right side
6. In the Settings pop-up, select the Keyboard shortcuts option. Now you will see pre-defined hotkeys for the Game filter, Capture, and other features
7. Click on the text field available for the Open/close in-game overlay option
8. Enter the new custom hotkey
9. Use the Back option
10. Close the in-game overlay.

The new hotkey will be ready to turn on or off the in-game overlay.

Disable in-game overlay notification

You must have noticed that whenever you launch a game, you see a message Press Alt+Z to share your gameplay. It appears every time which might bother or irritate you. It happens because the in-game overlay notification option is turned off. So, to get rid of this, you need to disable the in-game overlay notification feature. But, you will require the in-game overlay for this. Here are the steps:

1. Launch the GeForce Experience application
2. On its interface, click on the Share icon available just before the Settings icon to open the in-game overlay. Or else, you can also open it using the Alt+Z hotkey
3. In the in-game overlay, click on the Settings icon (or Preferences icon) and a pop-up will appear
4. In that pop-up, scroll down and select the Notifications menu
5. Under the Notifications menu, turn off the Open/close in-game overlay option.

When you need to turn on or enable in-game overlay notification for some reason, just use the steps covered above and turn on the same Open/close in-game overlay option.

Read: NVIDIA GeForce Experience unable to open Share

Disable the Instant Replay overlay icon

As you already know, the Instant Replay feature helps to record up to 20 minutes of your gameplay with high, low, custom quality, resolution, frame rate, etc. The feature is quite good. But, when this feature is activated, its overlay icon or status indicator appears on the bottom-right corner (default position) of your screen in the gameplay. If you don’t want that, you can simply disable the Instant Replay overlay icon or status indicator from the screen. The feature will continue to work as it is. These are the steps:

1. Open the GeForce Experience in-game overlay using the Alt+Z hotkey
2. Click on the Settings icon or gear icon available on the right section
3. In the Settings pop-up, select the HUD layout option
4. Under the HUD layout, select the Status indicator tab
5. In that tab, press the Off button.

Read: Unable to retrieve settings in NVIDIA GeForce Experience

Disable or turn off Instant Replay

In case you want to continue using the in-game overlay toolbar but just need to disable or turn off the Instant Replay feature, for the time being, then it can be done using the following steps:

1. Press the Alt+Z hotkey to open the in-game overlay
2. Select the Instant Replay option
3. Use the Turn off button.

Alternatively, you can also use the default Alt+Shift+F10 hotkey to turn on or off the Instant Replay feature.

That’s all! Hope this is helpful.

Also read: NVIDIA GeForce Experience, Something went wrong error on Windows 11/10

How do I get rid of GeForce Experience performance overlay?

If you want to get rid off the in-game overlay of the NVIDIA GeForce Experience app, then you can press the Alt+Z hotkey. On the other hand, if you want to change the default hotkey or completely disable the in-game overplay, then it can be done using Settings (overlay settings or preferences and main Settings of GeForce Experience). To make it easier for you, we have covered separate sections and all the steps in this post to turn off the in-game overlay, change the overlay hotkey, and disable the in-game overlay. Check them.

Read: How to Enable or Disable Steam Overlay on Windows PC

Should I turn off GeForce Experience overlay?

Simply put, in-game overlay lets you quickly access and use the main features (Record, Broadcast, Instant Replay, etc.) of the GeForce Experience application. And, if you use these features regularly, then you shouldn’t turn off the GeForce Experience overlay. On the other hand, if you face any compatibility issues or any other problem (like the gameplay is slow, issue while using other apps in full-screen mode, etc.) when you use this feature, then it would be good to keep the GeForce Experience overlay turned off.

Read next: GeForce Experience cannot optimize Games on Windows PC.