diff --git a/src/xpra/client/gl/gl_window_backing_base.py b/src/xpra/client/gl/gl_window_backing_base.py
index a9900a27f6..20f42777d7 100644
--- a/src/xpra/client/gl/gl_window_backing_base.py
+++ b/src/xpra/client/gl/gl_window_backing_base.py
@@ -52,7 +52,7 @@
 
 from xpra.os_util import (
     monotonic_time, strtobytes, hexstr,
-    POSIX, OSX, PYTHON3,
+    POSIX, OSX,
     DummyContextManager,
     )
 from xpra.util import envint, envbool, repr_ellipsized
@@ -75,7 +75,7 @@
 JPEG_YUV = envbool("XPRA_JPEG_YUV", True)
 WEBP_YUV = envbool("XPRA_WEBP_YUV", True)
 FORCE_CLONE = envbool("XPRA_OPENGL_FORCE_CLONE", False)
-DRAW_REFRESH = envbool("XPRA_OPENGL_DRAW_REFRESH", PYTHON3)
+DRAW_REFRESH = envbool("XPRA_OPENGL_DRAW_REFRESH", True)
 FBO_RESIZE = envbool("XPRA_OPENGL_FBO_RESIZE", True)
 FBO_RESIZE_DELAY = envint("XPRA_OPENGL_FBO_RESIZE_DELAY", 50)
 CONTEXT_REINIT = envbool("XPRA_OPENGL_CONTEXT_REINIT", OSX)