diff --git a/crates/eframe/src/web/web_painter_wgpu.rs b/crates/eframe/src/web/web_painter_wgpu.rs
index 2f4945e5270..0ec0f8239d1 100644
--- a/crates/eframe/src/web/web_painter_wgpu.rs
+++ b/crates/eframe/src/web/web_painter_wgpu.rs
@@ -87,42 +87,100 @@ impl WebPainterWgpu {
     pub async fn new(canvas_id: &str, options: &WebOptions) -> Result<Self, String> {
         log::debug!("Creating wgpu painter");
 
-        {
+        let mut backends = options.wgpu_options.supported_backends;
+
+        // Don't try WebGPU if we're not in a secure context.
+        if backends.contains(wgpu::Backends::BROWSER_WEBGPU) {
             let is_secure_context = web_sys::window().map_or(false, |w| w.is_secure_context());
             if !is_secure_context {
                 log::info!(
-                    "WebGPU is only available in secure contexts, i.e. on HTTPS and on localhost"
+                    "WebGPU is only available in secure contexts, i.e. on HTTPS and on localhost."
                 );
+
+                // Don't try WebGPU since we established now that it will fail.
+                backends.remove(wgpu::Backends::BROWSER_WEBGPU);
+
+                if backends.is_empty() {
+                    return Err("No available supported graphics backends.".to_owned());
+                }
             }
         }
 
-        let instance = wgpu::Instance::new(wgpu::InstanceDescriptor {
-            backends: options.wgpu_options.supported_backends,
+        log::debug!("Creating wgpu instance with backends {:?}", backends);
+        let mut instance = wgpu::Instance::new(wgpu::InstanceDescriptor {
+            backends,
             ..Default::default()
         });
 
-        let canvas = super::canvas_element_or_die(canvas_id);
+        // It can happen that a browser advertises WebGPU support, but then fails to create a
+        // suitable adapter. As of writing this happens for example on Linux with Chrome 121.
+        //
+        // Since WebGPU is handled in a special way in wgpu, we have to recreate the instance
+        // if we instead want to try with WebGL.
+        //
+        // To make matters worse, once a canvas has been used with either WebGL or WebGPU,
+        // we can't go back and change that without replacing the canvas (which is hard to do from here).
+        // Therefore, we have to create the surface *after* requesting the adapter.
+        // However, wgpu offers to pass in a surface on adapter creation to ensure it is actually compatible with the chosen backend.
+        // This in turn isn't all that important on the web, but it still makes sense for the design of
+        // `egui::RenderState`!
+        // Therefore, we have to first check if it's possible to create a WebGPU adapter,
+        // and if it is not, start over with a WebGL instance.
+        //
+        // Note that we also might needlessly try this here if wgpu already determined that there's no
+        // WebGPU support in the first place. This is not a huge problem since it fails very fast, but
+        // it would be nice to avoid this. See https://github.com/gfx-rs/wgpu/issues/5142
+        if backends.contains(wgpu::Backends::BROWSER_WEBGPU) {
+            log::debug!("Attempting to create WebGPU adapter to check for support.");
+            if let Some(adapter) = instance
+                .request_adapter(&wgpu::RequestAdapterOptions {
+                    power_preference: options.wgpu_options.power_preference,
+                    compatible_surface: None,
+                    force_fallback_adapter: false,
+                })
+                .await
+            {
+                // WebGPU doesn't spec yet a destroy on the adapter, only on the device.
+                //adapter.destroy();
+                log::debug!(
+                    "Successfully created WebGPU adapter, WebGPU confirmed to be supported!"
+                );
+            } else {
+                log::debug!("Failed to create WebGPU adapter.");
+
+                if backends.contains(wgpu::Backends::GL) {
+                    log::debug!("Recreating wgpu instance with WebGL backend only.");
+                    backends = wgpu::Backends::GL;
+                    instance = wgpu::Instance::new(wgpu::InstanceDescriptor {
+                        backends,
+                        ..Default::default()
+                    });
+                } else {
+                    return Err(
+                        "Failed to create WebGPU adapter and WebGL was not enabled.".to_owned()
+                    );
+                }
+            }
+        }
 
+        let canvas = super::canvas_element_or_die(canvas_id);
         let surface = instance
             .create_surface(wgpu::SurfaceTarget::Canvas(canvas.clone()))
             .map_err(|err| format!("failed to create wgpu surface: {err}"))?;
 
         let depth_format = egui_wgpu::depth_format_from_bits(options.depth_buffer, 0);
+
         let render_state =
             RenderState::create(&options.wgpu_options, &instance, &surface, depth_format, 1)
                 .await
                 .map_err(|err| err.to_string())?;
 
-        let (width, height) = (0, 0);
-
         let surface_configuration = wgpu::SurfaceConfiguration {
-            usage: wgpu::TextureUsages::RENDER_ATTACHMENT,
             format: render_state.target_format,
             present_mode: options.wgpu_options.present_mode,
-            alpha_mode: wgpu::CompositeAlphaMode::Auto,
             view_formats: vec![render_state.target_format],
             ..surface
-                .get_default_config(&render_state.adapter, width, height)
+                .get_default_config(&render_state.adapter, 0, 0) // Width/height is set later.
                 .ok_or("The surface isn't supported by this adapter")?
         };