Firefox's Quantum Update Is Now Available

News
By Zak Islam
published

Mozilla today announced the public release of the latest update to its Firefox browser called Quantum boasting that it's twice as fast as the previous version of its open-source browser.

Firefox 57 introduces a revamped user interface that introduces several new features, including square tabs, 'smooth' animations, as well as a Library that provides quick access to anything the user saves such as bookmarks, Pocket, history, downloads, tabs and screenshots. The biggest selling point, though, is the sheer speed of its latest update to the browser.

According to Mozilla’s benchmark tests, Quantum is twice as fast as Firefox 52. That performance increase is complemented by an architecture upgrade that, according to the company, uses 30% less memory than Google Chrome.

The optimization to make Firefox Quantum run as smoothly as it does is carried out through a brand new GPU-accelerated rendering engine that was written in Rust named “WebRender.” Web rendering is now carried out at 60FPS. Improvements also see the browser paint every pixel on the screen for each frame, making the web rendering both quicker and smoother.

Mozilla also applied several performance enhancements to the browser’s core, which is accompanied by a new CSS engine, Stylo, which offers better support for the nigh-ubiquitous multi-core devices used today.

Mozilla also emphasized its work on tabs. The tab a user is on gets prioritized over the rest of the tabs, which the company says consequently makes better use of one's system resources.

As for the user interface, Mozilla details: "We call this initiative Photon, and its goal is to modernize and unify anything that we call Firefox while taking advantage of the speedy new engine. You guessed it: the Photon UI itself is incredibly fast and smooth. To create Photon, our user research team studied how people browsed the web."

Those who already use Firefox should receive an automatic upgrade to Quantum after restarting their browser. If you're not currently using the browser, Firefox Quantum is available for Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, and Android via a free download.

Zak Islam
19 Comments Comment from the forums
  • Slow Pri
    I'm using the browser right now, and It is fantastic. I've been using it all morning, lets just say THANK GOD this is lighting and fixes a lot of Firefox's old lag on crappy internet connections.

    IT MADE ME REMOVE CHROME. - This is an accomplishment it self.
    Reply
  • Vatharian
    All extensions that made me stick to firefox ceased working. This version made me remove firefox, which I have been using since version 4.0. This is an accomplishment!
    Reply
  • AgentLozen
    I used the browser earlier and it was fantastic. I used it about 5 minutes ago and lets just say THANK GOD it can still operate in Always Use Private Browse Mode.

    I STILL USE CHROME. - This isn't any different than how I browsed before.
    Reply
  • Nintendork
    Just stick to Firefox56 if you vale the extensions it's also way faster than FF52.
    Reply
  • Druidsmark
    Only problem I had after I updated was to find that Firefox had hidden all my bookmarks on me. Once I figured out how to restore them to them original place every thing was good. I like the update, improvements to the browser just hope them hiding my bookmarks does not become a regular thing with future updates.
    Reply
  • Paul NZ
    Using it now too. At least adblock works now. Thats the only addon I use
    Reply
  • Tanyac
    square tabs... So 90's. Yuk.
    55 on wards deprecates adblock, encouraging you to use the new Adblock for Firefox, which doesn't work at all.

    57 might be faster, but it looks terrible and if it's going to continue to break extensions and so forth it's time to move on.
    Reply
  • Paul NZ
    The new adblock works fine here with V57
    Reply
  • Glock24
    I don't like much the new theme, but I guess I I'll get used to it with time. I also did not like that it rearranged all buttons and bars, has to put them again where I like them to be.
    As for speed I've not noticed much difference vs. FF56, but it seems to use more RAM than the previous versions. After installing FF57 window has been complaining about low memory ask day.
    Reply
  • NamelessBryan
    I'm using the browser right now, and It is fantastic. I used it 5 minutes ago and I'm still using it. THANK GOD this isn't any different than how I browsed before.

    IT MADE ME REMOVE BROWSERS. - This is an accomplishment it self.
    Reply