Firefox 52 to drop support for NPAPI plugins

Mozilla is set to drop support for all NPAPI plugins – except Flash – from 7 March. The move coincides with the scheduled release of Firefox 52.

NPAPI (Netscape Plugins API) is an “ancient plugins infrastructure inherited from the old Netscape browser”, reported Bleeping Computer.

Firefox is based on the Netscape browser.

“These plugins helped the web move forward, but as time advanced, the Internet’s standards groups developed [new] standalone Web APIs and technologies,” stated the report.

This removed the need for the “special plugins”.

“Today, audio and video streaming are supported by HTML5, while games can be built with a vast array of technologies – all without the need of Java, Flash, or Silverlight.”

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