Mozilla Firefox 47.0 Is Now in Beta, Enables the VP9 Video Codec for Fast PCs

[Batu69]

Available now for GNU/Linux, Mac OS X, and Microsoft Windows

Now that everyone is enjoying the recently released Firefox 46.0 web browser, it is time for the Mozilla devs to start working on the next major version, Mozilla Firefox 47.0.

A first Beta build of the upcoming Mozilla Firefox 47.0 web browser has been seeded to public beta testers earlier, along with the draft release notes, suggesting that the software will support Google’s Widevine CDM video streaming technology on Mac OS X and Microsoft Windows platforms, support ChaCha20/Poly1305 cipher suites, and enable the VP9 video codec for fast PCs.

The list of new features continues with support for playing embedded YouTube videos with the HTML5 video player when Adobe Flash Player is not detected, support for RSA-PSS signature to the WebCrypto API, the ability to allow "no-cache" on back and forward navigations for HTTPS (Secure HTTP) resources, as well as support for simulating Push messages in about:debugging, for testing purposes.

Smart multi-line input lands in the Web Console

Mozilla Firefox 47.0 promises many other exciting new features, and among some of them we can mention smart multi-line input in the Web Console, the ability to review the web browser's performance data in the about:performance page, support for SHA-2 hash algorithms for PBKDF2 in the WebCrypto API, and the removal of the Firefox User Extension Library (FUEL).

There are of course some new features for web developers, as well as dozens of security fixes and small changes, so we recommend taking a look at the changelog below if you're curious to know what's coming in Mozilla Firefox 47.0, which you can test drive by downloading the first Beta build for GNU/Linux, Mac OS X, and Microsoft Windows systems. The final release of Mozilla Firefox 47.0 should land on June 7, 2016.

Changelog

 

New

Embedded YouTube videos now play with HTML5 video if Flash is not installed
 Added support for ChaCha20/Poly1305 cipher suites
 Support for Google’s Widevine CDM on Windows and Mac OS X.
 Enable VP9 video codec for users with fast machines
 New Devtools for Service Workers adds a button to start registered SWs
 Allow users to view and debug all the registered SWs in about:debugging#workers
 Functionality in about:debugging to simulate Push messages for testing
 Smart multi-line input in the Web Console
 Review Firefox performance data in about:performance
 WebCrypto: RSA-PSS signature support
 Allow no-cache on back/forward navigations for https resources

Changed

 The browser.sessionstore.restore_on_demand preference has been reset to its default value (true) to avoid e10s performance problems
 WebCrypto: PBKDF2 supports SHA-2 hash algorithms
 “FUEL (Firefox User Extension Library) has been removed, add-ons relying on it will stop working, use add-on SDK instead.“

Developer

 Changes that can affect add-on compatibility
 cuechange events are now available on TextTrack objects
 Tilt removed from Firefox Developer Tools
 Custom user agents supported in Responsive Design Mode
 Implemented Document.scrollingElement to tell which element's scroll attributes reflect the viewport scroll state

 

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