Firefox

Firefox
Developer(s)
Initial releaseNovember 9, 2004 (2004-11-09)
Stable release(s) [±]
Standard143.0[1]  / September 16, 2025 (September 16, 2025)
ESR 1140.3.0esr[2]  / September 16, 2025 (September 16, 2025)
ESR 2115.28.0esr[3] / September 16, 2025 (2025-09-16)
Preview release(s) [±]
Beta and
developer		144.0b2[4]  / September 17, 2025 (September 17, 2025)
Nightly145.0a1[5]  / September 15, 2025 (September 15, 2025)
Repository
Written inC++, JavaScript, HTML, C, Rust, and others[6][7]
EnginesGecko, Quantum, and SpiderMonkey; WebKit on iOS/iPadOS
Operating system
Included withVarious Unix-like operating systems
Available in97 languages[9]
TypeWeb browser
LicenseMPL 2.0[10][11]
Websitefirefox.com

Mozilla Firefox, or simply Firefox, is a free and open-source[12] web browser developed by the Mozilla Foundation and its subsidiary, the Mozilla Corporation. It uses the Gecko rendering engine to display web pages, which implements current and anticipated web standards.[13] Firefox is available for Windows 10 or later versions of Windows, macOS, and Linux. Its unofficial ports are available for various Unix and Unix-like operating systems, including FreeBSD,[14] OpenBSD,[15] NetBSD,[16] and other operating systems, such as ReactOS. Firefox is also available for Android and iOS. However, as with all other iOS web browsers, the iOS version uses the WebKit layout engine instead of Gecko due to platform requirements. An optimized version is also available on the Amazon Fire TV as one of the two main browsers available with Amazon's Silk Browser.[17]

Firefox is the spiritual successor of Netscape Navigator, as the Mozilla community was created by Netscape in 1998, before its acquisition by AOL.[18] Firefox was created in 2002 under the codename "Phoenix" by members of the Mozilla community who desired a standalone browser rather than the Mozilla Application Suite bundle. During its beta phase, it proved to be popular with its testers and was praised for its speed, security, and add-ons compared to Microsoft's then-dominant Internet Explorer 6. It was released on November 9, 2004,[19] and challenged Internet Explorer's dominance with 60 million downloads within nine months.[20] In November 2017, Firefox began incorporating new technology under the code name "Quantum" to promote parallelism and a more intuitive user interface.[21]

Firefox usage share grew to a peak of 32.21% in November 2009,[22] with Firefox 3.5 overtaking Internet Explorer 7, although not all versions of Internet Explorer as a whole;[23][24] its usage then declined in competition with Google Chrome.[22] As of February 2025, according to StatCounter, it had a 6.36% usage share on traditional PCs (i.e. as a desktop browser), making it the fourth-most popular PC web browser after Google Chrome (65%), Microsoft Edge (14%), and Safari (8.65%).[25]

  1. ^ "Firefox 143.0, See All New Features, Updates and Fixes". September 16, 2025. Retrieved September 16, 2025.
  2. ^ "Firefox ESR 140.3.0, See All New Features, Updates and Fixes". September 16, 2025. Retrieved September 16, 2025.
  3. ^ "Firefox ESR 115.28.0, See All New Features, Updates and Fixes". Firefox. September 16, 2025. Retrieved September 16, 2025.
  4. ^ "Index of /pub/firefox/releases/144.0b2/". September 18, 2025. Retrieved September 19, 2025.
  5. ^ "Firefox Nightly 145.0a1, See All New Features, Updates and Fixes". September 15, 2025. Retrieved September 16, 2025.
  6. ^ Yegulalp, Serdar (February 3, 2017). "Mozilla binds Firefox's fate to the Rust language". InfoWorld. Archived from the original on August 19, 2017. Retrieved August 19, 2017.
  7. ^ "The Mozilla Firefox Open Source Project on Open Hub: Languages Page". openhub.net. Archived from the original on October 7, 2021. Retrieved October 15, 2021.
  8. ^ "Firefox for Android upgrade FAQs". Archived from the original on August 12, 2020. Retrieved August 16, 2020.
  9. ^ Cite error: The named reference languages was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  10. ^ "Mozilla". Archived from the original on October 21, 2014. Retrieved October 20, 2014.
  11. ^ Cite error: The named reference Licensing-Policies was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  12. ^ Corbet, Jonathan (January 10, 2005). "Debian and Mozilla – a study in trademarks". LWN.net. Archived from the original on August 1, 2017. Retrieved September 14, 2011.
  13. ^ "Gecko Layout Engine". download-firefox.org. July 17, 2008. Archived from the original on June 15, 2010. Retrieved May 10, 2012.
  14. ^ "FreeBSD ports". Archived from the original on March 23, 2019. Retrieved March 24, 2018.
  15. ^ "OpenBSD ports". Archived from the original on January 20, 2019. Retrieved March 24, 2018.
  16. ^ "NetBSD pkgsrc". Archived from the original on November 1, 2018. Retrieved October 31, 2018.
  17. ^ "Firefox for Fire TV". Amazon. Archived from the original on July 7, 2020. Retrieved July 17, 2020.
  18. ^ Jay, Paul (February 28, 2008). "Curtains for Netscape – Tech Bytes". CBC News. Archived from the original on July 5, 2015. Retrieved June 26, 2015.
  19. ^ "Firefox browser takes on Microsoft". BBC News. November 9, 2004. Archived from the original on December 20, 2017.
  20. ^ Weber, Tim (May 9, 2005). "The assault on software giant Microsoft". BBC News. Archived from the original on September 25, 2017.
  21. ^ Mayo, Mark (November 14, 2017). "Introducing the New Firefox: Firefox Quantum". The Mozilla Blog. Archived from the original on June 27, 2018. Retrieved May 26, 2018.
  22. ^ a b StatCounter. "Desktop Browser Market Share Worldwide (Jan 2009 – Jan 2013)". gs.statcounter.com. Archived from the original on October 11, 2017. Retrieved October 23, 2021.
  23. ^ "StatCounter Global Stats – Browser, OS, Search Engine including Mobile Usage Share". StatCounter Global Stats. Archived from the original on May 26, 2012. Retrieved July 14, 2018.
  24. ^ "StatCounter global stats – Top 12 browser versions". StatCounter. Archived from the original on May 26, 2012. Retrieved March 12, 2010.
  25. ^ "Desktop Browser Market Share Worldwide". StatCounter Global Stats. Retrieved March 5, 2025.
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