diff --git a/gfx/layers/wr/WebRenderLayerManager.cpp b/gfx/layers/wr/WebRenderLayerManager.cpp
index 4ae17b70e8ae..f344274c6ea6 100644
--- a/gfx/layers/wr/WebRenderLayerManager.cpp
+++ b/gfx/layers/wr/WebRenderLayerManager.cpp
@@ -28,6 +28,7 @@ namespace layers {
 WebRenderLayerManager::WebRenderLayerManager(nsIWidget* aWidget)
   : mWidget(aWidget)
   , mLatestTransactionId(0)
+  , mWindowOverlayChanged(false)
   , mNeedsComposite(false)
   , mIsFirstPaint(false)
   , mTarget(nullptr)
@@ -174,6 +175,16 @@ WebRenderLayerManager::BeginTransaction()
 bool
 WebRenderLayerManager::EndEmptyTransaction(EndTransactionFlags aFlags)
 {
+  if (mWindowOverlayChanged) {
+    // If the window overlay changed then we can't do an empty transaction
+    // because we need to repaint the window overlay which we only currently
+    // support in a full transaction.
+    // XXX If we end up hitting this branch a lot we can probably optimize it
+    // by just sending an updated window overlay image instead of rebuilding
+    // the entire WR display list.
+    return false;
+  }
+
   // With the WebRenderLayerManager we reject attempts to set most kind of
   // "pending data" for empty transactions. Any place that attempts to update
   // transforms or scroll offset, for example, will get failure return values
@@ -275,6 +286,8 @@ WebRenderLayerManager::EndTransactionWithoutLayer(nsDisplayList* aDisplayList,
                                                   contentSize);
 
   mWidget->AddWindowOverlayWebRenderCommands(WrBridge(), builder, resourceUpdates);
+  mWindowOverlayChanged = false;
+
   WrBridge()->ClearReadLocks();
 
   if (AsyncPanZoomEnabled()) {
diff --git a/gfx/layers/wr/WebRenderLayerManager.h b/gfx/layers/wr/WebRenderLayerManager.h
index 79a7a3d52f17..7c26fc583151 100644
--- a/gfx/layers/wr/WebRenderLayerManager.h
+++ b/gfx/layers/wr/WebRenderLayerManager.h
@@ -154,6 +154,7 @@ public:
   WebRenderScrollData& GetScrollData() { return mScrollData; }
 
   void WrUpdated();
+  void WindowOverlayChanged() { mWindowOverlayChanged = true; }
 
 private:
   /**
@@ -191,6 +192,7 @@ private:
   // APZ to do it's job
   WebRenderScrollData mScrollData;
 
+  bool mWindowOverlayChanged;
   bool mNeedsComposite;
   bool mIsFirstPaint;
   FocusTarget mFocusTarget;
diff --git a/widget/cocoa/nsChildView.mm b/widget/cocoa/nsChildView.mm
index 7367b24a4450..05f359f131ad 100644
--- a/widget/cocoa/nsChildView.mm
+++ b/widget/cocoa/nsChildView.mm
@@ -71,6 +71,7 @@
 #include "mozilla/layers/InputAPZContext.h"
 #include "mozilla/layers/IpcResourceUpdateQueue.h"
 #include "mozilla/layers/WebRenderBridgeChild.h"
+#include "mozilla/layers/WebRenderLayerManager.h"
 #include "mozilla/webrender/WebRenderAPI.h"
 #include "mozilla/widget/CompositorWidget.h"
 #include "gfxUtils.h"
@@ -4021,6 +4022,8 @@ NSEvent* gLastDragMouseDownEvent = nil;
     if ([self isUsingOpenGL]) {
       if (ShadowLayerForwarder* slf = mGeckoChild->GetLayerManager()->AsShadowForwarder()) {
         slf->WindowOverlayChanged();
+      } else if (WebRenderLayerManager* wrlm = mGeckoChild->GetLayerManager()->AsWebRenderLayerManager()) {
+        wrlm->WindowOverlayChanged();
       }
     }