diff --git a/widget/src/xpwidgets/nsBaseWidget.cpp b/widget/src/xpwidgets/nsBaseWidget.cpp
index cdfcdf79ac2e..e61edc7a2a1b 100644
--- a/widget/src/xpwidgets/nsBaseWidget.cpp
+++ b/widget/src/xpwidgets/nsBaseWidget.cpp
@@ -787,6 +787,15 @@ nsBaseWidget::GetShouldAccelerate()
   PRBool forceAcceleration = PR_FALSE;
 #if defined(XP_WIN) || defined(XP_MACOSX) || defined(ANDROID) || (MOZ_PLATFORM_MAEMO > 5)
   PRBool accelerateByDefault = PR_TRUE;
+#elif defined(XP_MACOSX)
+/* quickdraw plugins don't work with OpenGL so we need to avoid OpenGL when we want to support
+ * them. e.g. 10.5 */
+# if defined(NP_NO_QUICKDRAW)
+  PRBool accelerateByDefault = PR_TRUE;
+# else
+  PRBool accelerateByDefault = PR_FALSE;
+# endif
+
 #else
   PRBool accelerateByDefault = PR_FALSE;
 #endif