gg2
Firefox 156 released amid browser fork surge
The gist
Mozilla released Firefox 156 on September 15, 2026, speeding up PDF loading by up to 45%.
The update lands as Mozilla's faster release cycle pushes users toward alternative browser forks.
How it unfolded
- Sep 14, 2026Mozilla published the final builds of Firefox 156 ahead of the official unveiling, making them available on its FTP server.
- Sep 15, 2026Firefox 156.0 was released on the Release channel with faster PDF loading, lower resource use for large JPEG images, a new macOS startup setting, and fixes for browser, media, network, and Windows problems. Mozilla Foundation Security Advisory 2026-90 was also announced with a high impact rating.
- Sep 16, 2026The macOS version gained a setting to automatically open Firefox when the Mac starts up, the built-in PDF viewer's startup speed increased by up to 45%, and bugs related to picture-in-picture subtitles and split view were fixed.