Firefox 15 Beta Tackles Memory Leaks

Share This Post

Mozilla has released a beta version of the next version of its Firefox browser with better memory management and significant speed improvements. “Firefox 15 prevents most memory leaks caused by add-ons, including Firebug,” Nicholas Nethercote writes in a Mozilla blog. Firebug is a Firefox add-on for debugging web pages. “For many users with add-ons installed, this will significantly reduce Firefox’s memory consumption, without requiring upgrades to those add-ons,” he adds. “For those users, Firefox 15 is likely to be faster (sometimes drastically so) and less likely to crash, especially if they have multiple add-ons installed and/or keep Firefox running for a long time between restarts.” Nethercote explains that add-on memory leaks are caused by “zombie compartments,” where information from web pages is stored and remains after you close a page or depart from it. Firefox 15 cleans out those compartments, a move that its developers weren’t entirely sure would work. Much criticism has been leveled at Firefox since its inception over its piggish memory practices, but in recent months it has made great strides in its memory management. Last November, for instance, it put SpiderMonkey, the Javascript engine used by the browser, on a diet. And in May, it announced its campaign to plug memory leaks in add-ons.

In addition to better memory management, Firefox 15 also supports theOpus audio format. The format, which can be played directly in Firefox 15, offers better compression formats like MP3, Ogg, or AAC; is good for both music and speech; can dynamically adjust bitrate, audio bandwidth and coding delay; and supports both interactive and prerecorded applications. “We think Opus is an incredible new format for web audio,” Timothy Terriberry writes in a Mozilla blog. “We’re working hard to convince other browsers to adopt it, to break the logjam over a common

format.” The “prime time” version of Firefox 15 is scheduled for avaiability August 28.  

Stay Ahead: Join the EwtNet Insider Email Club!

Stay informed and up-to-date with EwtNet's email subscription. Join our exclusive community and receive curated news, updates, and insights tailored to your interests.

Related Posts

Firefox OS, Microsoft IE and 5 top Technologies that Died in 2015

Like 2016, 2015 started with a lot of promises...

Mozilla pulls new Firefox version over security concerns

Less than a day after Mozilla released Firefox version...

Mozilla Ends Marketing & Further Development of Firefox OS for Smartphone

The buzz is real! Mozilla is putting an end...

Mozilla Firefox 23 Proved Flawless as IE Woes Continue

In  a browser reliability test, the recent versions of Google's...

How to configure Firefox address bar with Search Engines

Your Firefox address bar can not only be used...

Firefox 16 arrives with a raft of critical fixes

Shortly after Firefox regained its No. 2 position in...
- Advertisement -

Discover more from EwtNet

Subscribe now to keep reading and get access to the full archive.

Continue reading