64-bit builds of Firefox are finally available on Windows

Mar 3, 2015 09:30 GMT  ·  By

A 64-bit version of Mozilla Firefox is not yet available for end users in stable form, but today the company has updated its Developer Edition lineup with such a version for Windows users.

Mozilla Firefox Developer Edition 64-bit can now be downloaded by users of the most popular desktop platforms out there, as the app was already available on Linux and OS X.

Windows users are provided with exactly the same feature package, but the 64-bit version obviously brings a number of significant advantages that could be at some point implemented in the stable build for consumers too.

What it brings new

The 64-bit version of Mozilla Firefox comes with support for larger applications, which, according to Mozilla, could make more apps and games run in its browser.

32-bit browsers are limited to 4GB of address space, so the 64-bit version practically removes this restriction and opens the door for more games without the risk of being impacted by fragmentation issues.

At the same time, the new version comes with faster execution and increased stability by improving the ASLR (address space layout randomization) system, which pretty much makes it more difficult (but not impossible) for web content to exploit the application and thus allow an attacker to break into your computer.

Needless to say, this release also includes several important additions for developers, among which WebRTC changes, support for the BroadcastChannel API and KeyboardEvent.code, and XHR logging.

Obviously, this build is not recommended for end users and it should be specifically downloaded and installed by developers, but there's still hope that in the coming months Mozilla could also release a stable 64-bit version of Firefox for everyone else.

In the meantime, those who want to take this version for a spin can download Firefox Developer Edition 64-bit on Softpedia. The full release notes for this particular build are available here.

Mozilla Firefox 64-bit (10 Images)

Mozilla Firefox 64-bit on Windows 10
Mozilla Firefox 64-bit on Windows 10Mozilla Firefox 64-bit on Windows 10
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