Mozilla considers extending Firefox support on older operating system versions until March 2025

Mozilla engineers revealed in a recent Reddit post that the company plans to extend Firefox support to older, currently unsupported operating system versions, such as Windows 7, 8, 8.1, and macOS 10.12-10.14. Mozilla didn't reveal any specific timeframes, but it's still good news for those using Firefox on older operating systems.

According to information posted on the Firefox Release Calendar website, Firefox 115 ESR - the latest version of Firefox that supports Windows 7, 8, and 8.1 - will continue to receive updates until April 1, 2025. Firefox 115.21 ESR is scheduled to launch on March 4, 2025, which means users with older versions of Windows will have at least 7 more months of support from Firefox.

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Mozilla originally planned to end support for Windows 7-8.1 in September 2024, but changed plans. Mozilla now provides two ESR releases: 115 for unsupported operating systems, and 128 for Windows 10 and later. Removing Windows 7 support from Firefox 116 and later allows Mozilla to clean up the codebase and remove the burden of maintaining newer libraries that no longer support pre-Windows 10 releases.

But on the other hand, Firefox still has "a lot of users on Windows 7, and the Windows 7 market share itself is still very large. Therefore, how long to maintain updates is something Mozilla needs to consider carefully. According to a comment from a Firefox engineer, Mozilla "hopes to have more official announcements on this issue in the near future".

For reference, Microsoft, Google, and other browsers have stopped supporting their browsers on versions of Windows prior to Windows 10 since January 2023. Chromium's end of support on Windows 7, 8, and 8.1 has forced other developers, such as Valve and Steam, to stop updating their software as well.

In reality, running an unsupported browser on a version of Windows that's already dead isn't all that scary. There are still plenty of people using Windows XP in 2022. But accessing the modern internet with software that no longer receives security updates isn't a good idea. Those who choose to stick with Windows 7 should be prepared to say goodbye to their beloved operating system and move to a supported operating system with longer-term supported browsers.

Marvin Fry

Update 10 September 2024