Firefox 129.0, a stable version, is now available with improvements to Reader View and HTTPS as the default protocol in the address bar for non-local sites. Mozilla has released installers and binaries browser for Windows, Linux, and macOS.
What's new in Firefox 129
HTTPS-First
HTTPS-First mode is enabled by default. This means that when you open a page via HTTP without encryption, the browser will first try to access the site via HTTPS ("http://" is replaced with "https://"). If the attempt is unsuccessful, it will try to open the site without encryption via http.
DNS security
On Linux, Windows 11 and Android 10+ platforms Firefox can now use system resolver to determine DNS records to receive ECH (Encrypted Client Hello) data. This continues the development of ESNI (Encrypted Server Name Indication) technology and ensures encryption of information about TLS session parameters, such as the requested domain name.
Reader View
In the Reader View mode you can now adjust the indents between characters and words, as well as select the text alignment method.
Improved Tab Thumbnails
Firefox now shows tab thumbnails in addition to the open page name. It also shows the URL of the tab. This will allow the user to quickly identify the needed tab.
Other changes
- JavaScript now supports Float16Array typed arrays, as well as DataView methods for reading and setting Float16 values, and the Math.f16round() method for rounding numbers to 16-bit precision.
- Web Developer Tools now includes new CSS warnings for incorrect use of the resize and float properties, for using the box-sizing property on elements that ignore height and width changes, and for using table-specific CSS properties on non-table elements.
- The Android version provides the ability to download language packs for translating text in offline mode.
Security fixes
In addition to new options and bug fixes, Firefox 129 also includes fourteen security fixes. Eleven of these are marked as dangerous, six of which are caused by memory issues such as buffer overflows and access to memory that has already been freed. These issues could potentially lead to malicious code being executed when opening specially crafted pages.
Download Firefox 128
Alternatively, you can download the installers here: https://releases.mozilla.org/pub/firefox/releases/129.0/. Choose the browser compatible with your OS, language, and platform from there. The files are sorted into subdirectories by platform and UI language, and they include complete (offline) installer packages.
Linux users should use the OS' package manager to get the latest version available for the distro. E.g. in Ubuntu/Mint with the official mozillateam PPA connected, you can run the apt update && apt install firefox command in a root terminal.
The official release notes are here: https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/129.0/releasenotes/.
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