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Experience WebVR on your VR headset by default, starting with Firefox 55

Mark Coppock
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firefox 55 adds webvr support
Kārlis Dambrāns/Flickr
Virtual reality continues to make headway, showing up on more systems and providing an ever-increasing number of experiences. Companies keep working to bring VR into more of our computing environments and one such effort is making our web browsers work with VR.

WebVR is a growing standard that aims to let everyone experience VR with any chosen browser. All WebVR requires is a VR headset and a compatible browser, and Mozilla announced on Thursday that WebVR support will be the default in Firefox 55.

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Firefox 55 is scheduled for release on August 8 and it will have WebVR turned on automatically for users with Oculus Rift or HTC Vive VR systems. This will let those users experience all of the new web-based VR experiences that developers around the world are creating.

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WebVR will work with WebGL to create powerful and efficient 3D experiences, allowing Firefox to become another VR publishing platform. To help developers create WebVR experiences, Mozilla is also inviting them to check one of the available frameworks, such as A-Frame and React VR.

Mozilla first introduced WebVR support in Firefox eight months ago and, in the meantime, created a workshop and developed cross-vendor collaboration. These should help the company push WebVR forward. Into the future, Mozilla will continue to work with other companies in ensuring compliance with the WebVR standard, to make sure that users get a consistent experience no matter which browser they use.

Some WebVR examples you can check out are adding 360-degree video to a site, exploring a museum, walking through Cambodian temples, and more. Developers can head over the A-Frame school to begin learning how to leverage WebVR to create cross-platform VR experiences. The bottom line is this: If you made an investment in a VR system, then there should be no shortage of experiences to make it worthwhile.

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