Plug-In Performance
Plug-In Composite Score
All of the plug-in scores are within about five percent of each other, and we've seen the winners change regularly in all three plug-in tests, but never beyond 5%. Therefore, this will also be the last time we test plug-in performance in the Web Browser Grand Prix. With the exception of Chrome's baked-in Flash player, every other combination of browser and plug-in yields essentially the same results.
Flash
The Flash composite score is derived from the geometric mean of the ten RIABench Flash sub-tests.
As usual, Chrome's built-in Flash player cannot match the Adobe version used by other browsers. Flash performance in IE10 is roughly comparable to Chrome, while Firefox and Opera are slightly ahead.
Java
The Java composite score is the geometric mean of all seven RIABench Java sub-tests.
All four browsers perform Java tests equally well under Windows 8, while Firefox and Chrome show a minor advantage under Windows 7.
Silverlight
Our Silverlight composite score is comprised of the geometric mean of all ten RIABench Silverlight sub-test results.
The Silverlight scores are essentially another dead heat, with Opera displaying a slight performance dip under Windows 8 and, believe it or not, IE9 showing a minor advantage in Windows 7.
Drill Downs
The charts below contain the individual RIABench Flash, Java, and Silverlight scores for Windows 8 and Windows 7.
More aberrations occur in Flash and Silverlight than in Java, but they are still too minor to draw any sweeping generalizations. Any differentiation in the Flash scores is due to Chrome using a different version than the other three browsers.