Firefox 147 brings GPU boost, tidier tabs, and video that follows you around
- Reference: 1768396511
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2026/01/14/firefox_and_tbird_147/
- Source link:
We suspect that the most visible feature in [1]Firefox 147 is improved [2]Picture-in-Picture video playback. Now it can be triggered automatically when a tab is sent into the background.
PIP video appeared some years ago in [3]Firefox 71 on Windows and [4]Firefox 72 on Linux and macOS . The Reg FOSS desk just [5]turns it off as we are not big fans of internet video, and videos that follow you as you move away from the page hosting them are the absolute last thing we want. Still, some folks will like this – including Daniele Ferla, who developed and contributed the code.
[6]
The other thing we suspect will benefit everyone on all platforms, at least occasionally, is that the Tabs page of the Settings screen has been reorganized, and now the various preferences that you can adjust there are categorized as Opening, Interaction, and Closing.
[7]
Firefox 147's most visible change: the Tabs Settings have been split into categories
For Mac types with Apple Silicon ARM64 processors, this release has improved support for the cross-platform [8]WebGPU standard , which first appeared six months ago in [9]Firefox 141 . WebGPU, which [10]originated at Apple about nine years ago , lets apps running inside a web page – technically, inside an HTML5 <canvas></canvas> element – use hardware-accelerated 3D via backends such as Vulkan, Metal, or Direct3D, and it's intended as a replacement for the older [11]WebGL standard .
PC folks aren't neglected either. Users with AMD GPUs now get zero-copy hardware-assisted video playback, bringing Firefox's AMD GPU support up to par with that for Intel and Nvidia GPUs. On Linux, Firefox now supports the [12]XDG Base Directory Specification . Among other bug fixes, including sharper image rendering for those using Mutter on GNOME, there are multiple [13]security fixes too.
[14]Waterfox browser goes AI-free, targets the Firefox faithful
[15]Mozilla Corporation installs Firefox driver in CEO reboot
[16]Firefox adds AI Window, users want AI wall to keep it out
[17]Mozilla's Firefox 145 is heeeeeere: Buffs up privacy, bloats AI
Support for [18]Google's Safe Browsing standard now covers version 5 of the spec, including the new [19]Local List mode . If you have Firefox's [20]Enhanced Tracking Protection set to Strict, this now restricts [21]local device access as well as the public internet – although this is being rolled out gradually, so don't panic if you don't see it yet.
Back in August, we reported that some users were reporting [22]their Firefox browser was scoffing CPU power , and we told you how to disable the new AI features in the most thorough way: go to the hidden settings screen by entering a URL of about:config and search for browser.ml . We turned off absolutely all the options we could find, and that seemed to silence the automatic plagiarism machine. We've seen reports of people finding these settings mysteriously getting re-enabled when they update Firefox. It hasn't happened to us, but you might want to check anyway.
[23]
As usual, there is also a detailed doc describing [24]what's new for developers . Mozilla publishes full [25]system requirements , but nothing looks different there: you need Windows 10 or macOS 10.15, or of course more recent versions, and a fairly recent Linux.
A new version of Thunderbird will be along to match soon, although as we write, we're not being offered an update yet – but the [26]release notes are already available. We don't see any exciting changes here – in fact, only two things are listed under "What's new" – a Show Full Path option and optional folder-name localization. ®
Get our [27]Tech Resources
[1] https://www.firefox.com/en-US/firefox/147.0/releasenotes/
[2] https://www.firefox.com/en-US/features/picture-in-picture/
[3] https://www.theregister.com/2019/12/04/mozilla_firefox_private_network/
[4] https://www.theregister.com/2020/01/08/firefox_72/
[5] https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/turn-picture-picture-mode
[6] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2aWlxnlep7AKPD7pP5gdKDgAAAAg&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[7] https://regmedia.co.uk/2026/01/14/ffox-147-settings.jpg
[8] https://www.w3.org/TR/webgpu/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2025/07/23/firefox_141_relieves_linux_pain/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2017/02/08/apple_webgpu/
[11] https://www.theregister.com/2011/03/03/webgl_one_dot_o_released/
[12] https://specifications.freedesktop.org/basedir/latest/
[13] https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/security/advisories/mfsa2026-01/
[14] https://www.theregister.com/2025/12/18/firefox_no_ai_alternative_waterfox/
[15] https://www.theregister.com/2025/12/16/mozilla_corporation_new_ceo/
[16] https://www.theregister.com/2025/11/13/firefox_adds_ai_window/
[17] https://www.theregister.com/2025/11/12/firefox_145_arrives/
[18] https://www.theregister.com/2024/03/14/google_safe_browsing_update/
[19] https://developers.google.com/safe-browsing/reference/Local.List.Mode
[20] https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/enhanced-tracking-protection-firefox-desktop
[21] https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/control-personal-device-local-network-permissions-firefox
[22] https://www.theregister.com/2025/08/13/firefox_ai_scoffing_power/
[23] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44aWlxnlep7AKPD7pP5gdKDgAAAAg&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[24] https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Mozilla/Firefox/Releases/147
[25] https://www.firefox.com/en-US/firefox/147.0/system-requirements/
[26] https://www.thunderbird.net/en-US/thunderbird/147.0/releasenotes/
[27] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Re: 1 button option to turn off AI
Just right mouse on a page and click Remove chatbot. Technically three clicks.
Re: 1 button option to turn off AI
WRONG! AI must be an opt-in, not an out-out!
So they've reorganised the tabs settings page.
Yet still there isn't an option to have newly opened tabs automatically load my homepage or a specific pre-defined page.
Why do I need to install the "NewTabHomepage" extension to get simple functionality that every other browser can do by default?
I was just writing to say you can set what you want. But you’re right - you can’t!!
You can set it for “Homepage and new windows” but not “New tabs”. How bloody stupid is that?
On the mobile version you can't - any more - set it for new page either. Functionality which was built into NCSA Mosaic, and which Mozilla saw fit, quite recently, to remove.
Why do I need to install the "NewTabHomepage" extension?
Those of us that have been around Firefox since before it was Firefox will recall that part of the premise for it was minimum features/minimum bloat You added what you needed with extensions. Today we have bloat and you still need extensions.
v0.8 was 7 MB, v147 is 80 MB. (via ftp.mozilla.org)
I would like exactly the opposite. A browser that does not auto-play videos under any circumstances, I cannot stand the distraction of a video moving about as im reading the surrounding text.
From my experience, LibreWolf does an excellent job of blocking autoplay. I'm allergic to autoplay myself, and I haven't noticed any videos playing unexpectedly since I started using it. It's also blessedly free of AI crapola.
I use Firefox and bocked autoplay in settings and it works well (only had to get an extension for YouTube...)
I have autoplay disabled and still some videos autoplay on the Grauniad's homepage.
Well I'm looking forward to LibreWolf picking up the latest changes and I'm hoping (though I'm not too optimistic) that they'll strip out all the AI shit too while they're at it.
Librewolf has AI disabled already.
Check the linrewolf.cfg file in the librewolf installation directory for more details
or view the .cfg on librewolfs Gitlab source
Also, Firefox for Android now has Fission (site isolation) enabled by default.
example.org
Firefox always pings example.org even though IANA specifically requests that the example site(s) not be used in production.
Firefox also pings cloudflare-dns.com and detectportal.firefox.com even though I have those features disabled in about: config.
(I block them at the DNS level)
Also, the tech website, The Verge requests a remote icon for its bookmark every time I use Firefox on Android so I had delete the bookmark.
I don't like browsers phoning home if it's not necessary.
seems like
... what I want from Mozilla lately is less of what they've been working on.
I'm probably not their typical user/consumer at this point; I just want to look at (mostly text, fairly static) web pages with a minimum of fuss and preferably no moving parts. I'm not really interested in animated whiz-bangs or dancing graphics. I might watch the occasional clip but it's often some video thing I could find anywhere. I'm not interested in watching movies and feature films and such in the browser.
I really don't want a browser to "follow me around", advertising at me on some other web page because I shopped for new socks over here. Comfortable socks are important, but I don't need to be stalked to buy them.
Along with that goes anything to do with so-called AI. Don't hoover up my data, don't regurgitate everyones' back at me, and please don't make up your own from the ether. I recognize the latter parts is often google's doing, and openai and such, but still -- Mozilla doesn't have to help them. Or maybe they do, to keep the money spigot on, more's the pity.
I find I can do away with most of the browser behavior irritants with a small set of add-ons, for which I'm appreciative. One might ask why Mozilla don't just do that themselves, but it's not hard to guess.
Most of what I might want them to work on probably won't happen, if history is any indicator. So absent that, what I think I'd like most is an easy off switch/button for anything new they add.
Is it just me who finds picture-in-picture a pain in the nuts which I keep having to hit with a mallet to make it go away when websites are desperately trying to shove something in my face?
Anyway, gave up on FF recently and moved to Waterfox - welcome improvement.
So basically you close an advert, and it FOLLOWS you and will not absolutely stop until you are dead.
Well there's another reason to abandon firefox.
> So basically you close an advert, and it FOLLOWS you
Not really because it's Firefox, which means you can install UBlock Origin:
https://ublockorigin.com/
And I suggest also building a PiHole -- I am fond of mine.
https://www.theregister.com/2025/03/08/pi_hole_6_flyby/
Silent. Uses about 2 Watts. It must have had half an hour of maintenance in the last year. Blocks ads on phones, including inside apps. No, not all, but enough that I notice the blank spaces or empty screens.
I am definitely a fan of uBlock Origin.
I merely find it somewhat unfortunate that it is practically necessary to use in Firefox.
No. That is not how it works. PIP is an button that you have to click to enable it. If you don't like it, don't click it. I do use it sometimes, not often though.
Nothing here of value. Sticking with Waterfox which I'm very happy with.
I was waiting for this version because it should include the fix for the missing title bar. It's been disappearing even when enabled for some months now.
> I was waiting for this version because it should include the fix for the missing title bar.
Not seen that on macOS or Linux. You do not give steps to reproduce or what you tried. Have you filed a bug?
File a bug. It's free and takes 5 min.
Not me, but someone did, hence why I'm expecting the fix:
https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1996961
ETA: I myself only saw it on my Window 11 laptop, not on my Windows 10 desktop.
autoplay videos should be hit with a very large hammer.
>We've seen reports of people finding these settings mysteriously getting re-enabled when they update Firefox. It hasn't happened to us, but you might want to check anyway.
its re-enabled itself in your own screenshot in article...
Need an alternate internet
I don’t use “pihole,” instead I use adguard home which I run in my router! I rummaged around and scrounged up a 512MB usb key which contains the entire program. Of course I’m running adguard within did-wrt on a vintage D-Link router.
But at work sometimes I connect to ad-enabled websites suggested by DuckDuckGo on the Win11 laptop and I’ve only got 10 seconds to figure out what I need before the page erupts in advertising: I’m not accustomed to seeing that with Librewolf and adguard on my Linux box.
Maybe it’s time for an alternative internet with a different search engine and non-ad based pages. Something that doesn’t use cookie files, etc.
It's a good feature, stop your whining.
I don't know if they've changed it in the new release but the pop out video player is really useful and nothing to do with Autoplay.
If you end up on a site where the video player controls won't hide or don't work properly, pop the video out and it gets firefox's controls.
If you end up on a site where after 10 minutes the video is blocked by UBlock because the site wants to switch to an advert, pop out the video. The ublock scrim sits on top of the browser page and blocks the advert stream while the pop out video player continues, letting you watch the video in peace. (tubi.tv I'm talking about specifically)
I often watch videos like this, it's a neat feature and exactly what firefox is about. Letting me control the browser experience.
All the AI shite they're adding is another thing entirely, but no need to throw the baby out with the bath water.
1 button option to turn off AI
There should be a 1 button option to turn off AI.
I just use FF to connect to management pages via a proxy. it can't connect to the Internet via that proxy but somehow knows when a new version is available.