Adobe Flash is already a distant memory for the majority of internet users, but support for the multimedia software platform will officially end as 2020 comes to a close. Now Mozilla has announced how it will end support for Flash in the Firefox browser.
In a post on the Mozilla blog, Mozilla confirms that Firefox version 84 will be the last to ship with Flash support. Then, on Jan. 26 next year, Firefox 85 is scheduled for release and it won't include Flash support. Mozilla says that by doing so, Firefox 85 will enjoy better performance and security.
If you use Firefox Nightly or Beta builds, the end of Flash support comes sooner. Nightly builds lose support on Nov. 17, and Beta builds lose support on Dec. 14. As for the Adobe Flash plugin, that will stop loading Flash content after Jan. 12. Importantly, regardless of which build of Firefox you use, it won't be possible to re-enable Flash support ensuring that it is well and truly gone forever from the browser.
Flash has long since been usurped in web browsers by the combination of HTML5 and JavaScript, which has gone well beyond the levels of interactive content that originally made Flash so popular. But 2021 looks to be the year when Flash really has (finally) completely disappeared from the web.