Firefox Gets VR Support for Viewing Virtual Reality Content Online
Mozilla's newest browser update, Firefox 55, came out with web-based support for virtual reality on Tuesday, Aug. 8. Firefox users on Windows are now able to use select headsets to view VR content from their web browser since the update went live.
With this new feature, the browser can now make use of a new standard called WebVR, which Mozilla has been working on for a while now together with a variety of other browser vendors, including Microsoft Edge, Oculus Browser, Samsung Internet, Safari for iOS and Google Chrome.
That said, Firefox is playing catch up to Google's browser, which added web-based VR features to Chrome as far back as February, as The Verge notes.
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When Firefox gets its own WebVR feature with Firefox 55, all Windows users of the browser can make use of their HTC Vive or Oculus Rift headset to view VR content online. Developers and advanced Firefox users already got a preview of the new feature when it was made available in Firefox Nightly, the cutting-edge development build for the browser.
In comparison, Google Chrome supports HTC Vive, Oculus Rift, with Google Cardboard plus Google Daydream. Microsoft Edge, meanwhile, has also added support for web-based VR the past year.
Firefox, for their part, claims to be the first browser to enable viewing of VR content made with the new WebVR standard on the desktop, even without a VR device.
WebVR proponents expect that with a wide variety of browser makers working on testing the new standard, VR implementation on web browsers will be sped up immensely. So far, users can now see how their favorite browser renders web-based VR content from a set of samples hosted by WebVR Rocks.
The video below highlights the potential application of the new WebVR feature for Firefox when used with existing VR devices.
