Macos – Is the Firefox browser 64-bit on Mac OS X or is the Java website inaccurate

64-bitfirefoxgoogle-chromejavamacos

On the Java download page for Mac OS X, it says:

Chrome does not support Java 7. Java 7 runs only on 64-bit browsers and Chrome is a 32-bit browser.

If you download Java 7, you will not be able to run Java content in Chrome and will need to use a 64-bit browser (such as Safari or Firefox) to run Java content within a browser. Additionally, installing Java 7 will disable the ability to use Apple Java 6 on your system.

I understand the above and want to download Java 7 for Mac OS X (10.7.3 and above).

Since when is Firefox a 64-bit browser?

Best Answer

Firefox for OS X indeed is 64-bit. From the build info:

clang -arch x86_64

Go to about:buildconfig to check it:

This has been the case since version 4.0, according to a mozillaZine mod.

Related Solutions

Macos – the advantage of a 64-bit browser on Mac

The probably most important aspect is:

64-bit browser use 64-bit plugins while 32-bit browsers use 32-bit plugins.

Keeping this in mind, a 64-bit browser is both good and bad:

Usually, 64-bit plugins are harder to find as their 32-bit counterparts.
Plugins like the Java Runtime Environment let your browser perform CPU intensive and/or memory hungry tasks. The 64-bit version of JRE has access to all cores, making some tasks magnitudes faster.

Macos – How to select 32-bit Java for use by any browser on the Mac

From the Finder menu:

Go - > Utilities -> Java Preferences

Make sure you have both versions checked and drag them in the order you want them to be loaded. In your case, drag the 32-bit version to the top (opposite of mine).

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Best Answer

Related Solutions

Macos – the advantage of a 64-bit browser on Mac

Macos – How to select 32-bit Java for use by any browser on the Mac

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