Firefox will change its rendering engine and render websites only with the GPU

Important change in the Mozilla Firefox rendering engine, which will use the GPU for rendering through the new Webrender system.

Mozilla is working to improve the performance of its Firefox browser. The developers' proposal, which they announced some time ago, is based on a complete rendering monitor overhaul. Currently this task is done by the processor cores and is complemented by the GPU for acceleration. This system is used not only in Firefox, it is also used in browsers such as Chrome and Edge. The idea is that the full rendering of the browser is done on the GPU, freeing up the processor.

Firefox would pass its rendering engine to the GPU.

Webrender, which is the new rendering engine, is quite similar to how a graphics engine would render, making intensive use of the GPU. This feature was previously only available for desktop NVIDIA graphics and not all, some. This allowed users to force enablement with company graphics.

Now the Firefox developers in a graphics team newsletter have highlighted that Webrender is enabled by default in Firefox Nightly on some Intel and AMD GPU models. Reviewing the Mozilla website specifications that Webrender is enabled for 9th Generation Intel Skylake processors with UHD 530 graphics. It is also compatible with AMD Sea Island GPUs, including R9 290X, Kaveri APUs and HD 7790.

This system allows to load web pages in a more agile way in Firefox, the movement within the pages is more fluid and without interruptions. Webrender is expected to arrive definitively in Firefox 14, which is scheduled to be released in May 2019. Those who want to try it can access Firefox Nightly and see what it brings. It is unknown if this function reached Android and iOS smartphones.

Source: HOCP