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14 AAATheFAQ
Cameron Kaiser edited this page 2021-10-19 17:42:39 -07:00
Table of Contents

TenFourFox Frequently Asked Questions

This page is for frequently asked questions about TenFourFox (or, as we abbreviate it, 10.4Fx). Questions answered in the FAQ are generally pertinent only to the most current version of 10.4Fx although notes about earlier versions are also included for reference.

What is TenFourFox?

TenFourFox (hereafter 10.4Fx) is a port of Firefox 45 with later updates to the Power Macintosh, running either Mac OS X 10.4 or 10.5.

Why make 10.4Fx?

Mozilla stopped supporting Power Macintosh and Mac OS X v10.4 with Firefox 4/Mozilla 2.0, both of which remain important and in our humble opinion viable platforms, particularly for people who need to run older software or use Classic. We fall into this category. This was our attempt to rectify the disparity.

Why isn't it called Firefox?

10.4Fx is not called Firefox because technically it isn't, and therefore legally it can't be. Mozilla's trademark conditions require that builds named Firefox be based on unmodified source, and 10.4Fx is modified.

What modifications were made to 10.4Fx?

10.4Fx contains modified widget code to work with OS X Tiger and the 10.4 SDK, modified font code to use Apple Type Services instead of CoreText, disables WebGL (which is incompatible with Tiger), adds its own MP3 audio decoder, and includes AltiVec- and PowerPC-specific code for JavaScript acceleration and decoding of WebM, JPEG and HTML. Here is a more or less complete list of changes in TenFourFox. There are also various later features from post-Firefox 45 versions which were backported, such as TLS 1.3 and WebP support.

Does Mozilla support TenFourFox?

No. TenFourFox is not an official Mozilla build or product.

Why don't you make builds of TenFourFox anymore?

What does "hobby mode" mean?

TenFourFox is in hobby mode, which is to say that it is no longer updated on any regular schedule, there is no roadmap, and there is no user support. Updates occur when someone submits a patch or pull request and it is accepted, and there will be no specific version tags (the current version is always what's there). Not issuing official builds is partially because there's no version timeline, but it's also to save computer time and energy and to encourage people to build their own copies of the browser and become more accustomed to the process.

Here's how you can build your own copy.

Why do you keep closing my Github issues? You have a bug and you should fix it.

Because TenFourFox is a hobby, the only things being worked on are those that people actually want to be working on. If you submit an issue and you don't submit a patch to fix that issue or indicate you yourself plan to work on that issue, it will be closed. There are lots of things that don't work in the browser, so if it matters to you, pitch in!

What were those funny "FPR" and "SPR" numbers?

Until TenFourFox 45, TenFourFox versions kept pace with Firefox, and corresponded generally with the feature set of the same version of Firefox. Stable releases were based on the current Firefox Extended Support Release (ESR) and unstable releases were based on the released mainstream version of Firefox. We called this state "source parity:" we built from a modified version of Firefox's current source code and kept pace with their changes.

Unfortunately, between Firefox 45ESR and 52ESR, Mozilla made several important low-level changes that would have caused substantial problems with older versions of OS X. Additionally, after Firefox 54 Firefox now requires the Rust compiler to build the browser, which has never been supported on PowerPC OS X and has several low-level technical requirements which are not possible prior to OS X Lion. It would have been very difficult to build versions from Firefox 46 to 53, and is now impossible to build versions from Firefox 54 on.

As a result, we parted ways from Firefox's source code with the ESR version of 45.9 and started backporting important features from later versions of Firefox to this reliable platform base. We called this state "feature parity" to demonstrate that we don't use Mozilla's current source code in its entirety, but we tried to support as many of the current features as feasible. These releases were tagged as "FPR" or "Feature Parity Releases" so that they wouldn't be confused with later versions of Firefox by users or websites checking the user agent.

In March feature parity ended and was replaced with "security parity" where security updates were only made. These releases were tagged as "Security Parity Releases." The last "SPR" release was October 5, 2021.

TenFourFox now uses a rolling release model; there is no specific version number or release tags anymore. The tip is always "the latest."

Here is more information on how we define "parity".

Are there other PowerPC OS X builds of Firefox?

We are no longer aware of other current builders other than those based on TenFourFox itself. For a period of time AuroraFox issued a 10.5-only build, but is no longer supported as of Firefox 20. There are also some older Firefox rebuilds for Power Macs made directly from Mozilla's source code, but none of them are still maintained either. The long-running SeaMonkeyPPC (10.5 only) has also ceased updates, as has the OS X/ppc version of the Tor Browser Bundle (compatible with 10.4/10.5 and based on 10.4Fx code).

For Thunderbird users, there was Tenfourbird which is also based on 10.4Fx code and compatible with 10.4 and 10.5. Tenfourbird has not been updated since 38.9.

We do not officially endorse any alternative build (other than our own, of course), although some of these builders have contributed to this project.

Why are there four different versions? Which one do I pick?

10.4Fx comes in processor-tuned variants to give you the best speed on your particular Macintosh. The G4 and G5 versions include AltiVec code, for example, and the G5 JavaScript accelerator is tuned differently for better performance on the PowerPC 970. If you are using a G3 or a G5, you should use the G3 or G5 version, respectively. If you are using a G4, see our instructions on picking the right processor version for whether you should use the 7400 or 7450 build.

Can 10.4Fx run on Panther? (Jaguar, etc.?)

No. OS X 10.3 does not contain the secret CoreText that is necessary for portions of the underlying font code, and because current versions of Firefox depend strongly on Cocoa, the core operating system libraries in general are not advanced enough to support the browser base. There is no easy way to fix this. For Panther, your best bet is probably Camino 1.6.1; you might also consider SeaMonkey 1.1, which will work for Jaguar too. You could also run Classilla in Classic, which is also your best option for 10.0-10.1 if anyone is still running that, and of course the best choice for Rhapsody, OS 8.6 and OS 9 if we do say so ourselves.

I tried to run TenFourFox and it immediately crashes. Don't you even test your software?

Please give us the benefit of the doubt here: we do dogfood our own browser. In fact, the FAQ you're reading was written on a G5 using TenFourFox. Serious crippling issues like this are usually due to something local; failure to do basic browsing tasks, let alone even start up, would be rapidly apparent to our testing audience. To diagnose the problem will need a little detective work.

  • First, verify you generated the correct processor build. The G5 build will crash on a system that does not have a G5 processor; the G4 build will crash on a G3 processor. If you're trying to run the browser on an Intel Mac, we don't support that (but read on through the next couple of questions).
  • Next, try to start in safe mode -- hold down the Option key as you start 10.4Fx. This will disable any problematic extensions and themes and certain other browser features. If this fixes the problem, you should attempt to find which add-on or feature is the problem. Some older add-ons may cause serious issues with the browser. You can see what add-ons are installed and disable or remove them as appropriate by going to Tools, Add-ons.
  • If that doesn't fix it, you should try starting with a blank profile (you can do this by starting the Profile Manager, read on) instead of your earlier Firefox profile. Profiles created by old versions of Firefox or TenFourFox may corrupt or be unreadable to later versions. The instructions will explain how to preserve as much of your profile as possible, such as bookmarks.
  • If even that doesn't fix it, certain third-party operating system components may cause conflicts, particularly haxies, system extensions and monitoring software. Consider disabling these temporarily to see if they're the culprits.

Mozilla's Firefox OS X support pages also have other suggestions for fixing startup problems.

10.4Fx is very slow when it starts up.

Since Firefox 5, Mozilla has required that most of the components of the browser be combined into a large "superlibrary" called XUL; it is no longer possible to run with the pieces separated anymore. XUL contains the bulk of the browser's code, over 70MB in size in current versions, and when the browser starts up this entire library needs to be scanned and components loaded from it. Part of this process happens on startup, but some happens on demand, so the first few pages you load might be slower than they should be. On a fast G5 this might be only a matter of a few seconds, but obviously it takes longer on computers with slower CPUs or slower hard disks.

There is a silver lining, though: once XUL is mostly/fully loaded, much of it remains in memory, and the browser becomes considerably faster. Plus, because the components are kept all in one place, certain types of glue code can be dispensed with, allowing the browser to have even less overhead once it's fully loaded. As long as you keep the browser open and don't quit it (you can sleep your Mac with 10.4Fx running), you won't have to pay this startup penalty again unless you have to restart the browser.

Can 10.4Fx run on an Intel Mac?

TenFourFox can compile on Intel hosts and some third-party developers have released unofficial builds configured to do so. They should run on 10.4-10.6 as well, and may even work on later versions of macOS. However, the primary focus of TenFourFox remains Power Macs.

Will 10.4Fx use all my Firefox settings?

Yes, because as far as your Mac is concerned TenFourFox is Firefox, so it will use your previous profile seamlessly including all of your old bookmarks, all compatible add-ons and all settings. However, you may wish to install versions in between and upgrade through them so that your profile is correctly updated, such as from 2 to 3 to 3.5 to 3.6.

Similarly, if you are updating from a Firefox version prior to 10.0 (such as Firefox 3.6), download and install TenFourFox 10.0.11, run it once, then download and install 17.0.11, run that once, then download and install 24.7.0, run that once, then download and install 31.8.0, run that once, then download and install 38.10.0, run that once, and finally download and install the current version of TenFourFox. If you are unable to do so, consider removing the Library/Application Support/Firefox folder in your home directory to make sure settings are clean and correct, but this will destroy your bookmarks, saved settings, cookies and add-ons. If your Mac has never run Firefox (even if it ran Camino), you don't need to do this.

Again, in some cases, you may have corrupted or buggy settings from older versions that will actually cause problems with 10.4Fx. In that case, you may need to reset your profile from within TenFourFox; there is usually no way to fix this otherwise.

As a corollary in general, old versions of Firefox that are no longer supported will typically not be able to use profiles from later versions of Firefox, and may even corrupt them. Once you have started using TenFourFox, you cannot go back to Firefox 3.6; you may lose data. Even if you get away with it for awhile, we won't support this, and you will run into trouble sooner or later.

Okay, then, I want to keep my Firefox and 10.4Fx settings separate.

If you must use the old Firefox, or use different add-ons or keep different settings, you will need separate profiles. Mozilla explains how to start the Firefox Profile Manager. These steps will also work for TenFourFox; just substitute the correct application.

Be careful: profile management, if done incorrectly, can cause you to lose your current settings and bookmarks. Follow the directions exactly. This is not recommended if you can avoid it.

I tried to run the Profile Manager like you said on Tiger, and it gives me a weird error message.

Run firefox -P instead of firefox-bin -P.

In future, once you've created a new profile -- let's say you called it newprofile -- you can just type firefox -p newprofile to use that profile and avoid using the GUI Profile Manager altogether if you like.

Can I run 10.4Fx together with Camino, SeaMonkey, Safari or other browsers?

Yes. In fact, you can even run them at the same time. Even Gecko-based browsers like Camino and SeaMonkey coexist peacefully with TenFourFox. (We recommend OmniWeb over Safari if you want your WebKit fix, btw.)

Again, the exception is Firefox itself. Firefox 3.6 cannot be run simultaneously with TenFourFox, because as we mentioned above, to the Mac TenFourFox is Firefox. Also, do again remember that older versions of Firefox may cease to work after upgrading to TenFourFox due to incompatible profiles. You may wish to use specific profiles for these older Firefox or even old TenFourFox versions if you must run them (but it is strongly advised you do not, as these versions of Firefox likely have security issues).

We do not support alternating between Firefox 3.6 and TenFourFox, as Firefox 3.6 will corrupt TenFourFox profiles and you will lose data!

Web pages keep saying they don't support TenFourFox any more.

Web pages say my browser is too old.

TenFourFox is detected by many sites as Firefox 45, which technically has not been supported by Mozilla since 2017. This is on purpose to prevent sites from incorrectly enabling features that TenFourFox may not support, but some sites that would otherwise work perfectly fine with TenFourFox will then complain the browser is too old.

For these sites that mistakenly use the browser's "user agent string" to determine its feature set, you can change it from within TenFourFox by going to Preferences and selecting the TenFourFox tab. From the User Agent dropdown, select an alternative. Select the earliest browser version that is compatible with the site you need; selecting an overly current version may cause the site to enable features TenFourFox might not ever support. Reload the page to see if the change fixed the issue. You may need to experiment with this setting to get some recalcitrant sites to "stick."

The current user agent setting is applied to all sites you visit, but you can change it at any time. If a site doesn't seem to be working properly, make sure your user agent is set to the default before you report a bug to that site.

Does 10.4Fx support TLS 1.2 or TLS 1.3?

Yes, as well as TLS 1.0 and TLS 1.1 for legacy sites. TLS 1.2 was first officially supported in TenFourFox 31.0. TLS 1.3 was first supported in FPR20. SSL 2 and 3 are no longer supported nor recommended.

Does 10.4Fx support language packs?

Yes, you can download language packs from SourceForge (the current release is for FPR32). Firefox language packs don't work, so don't use one of those.

Note that some later strings may require new translation. If your language is not listed, or a string is appearing in English and not your desired language, you can contribute: see issue 328.

10.4Fx does not display some fonts (Tamil, Arabic, ...) correctly.

10.4Fx does not support CoreText, which is needed to use the typographic information in certain AAT-encoded fonts that come with later versions of Mac OS X. Without this information, certain ligatures and glyph reordering rules cannot be utilized, and the font will appear but not quite correctly. The font renderer in 10.4Fx does support Arabic and other international scripts, but requires OpenType or Graphite fonts for the special language-specific features; see our tech notes. Fortunately, many websites now provide these fonts as downloadable webfonts and TenFourFox can generally use them, so this problem is less common than it used to be.

10.4Fx sometimes pops up a window saying "bad font detected."

10.4Fx sometimes shows weird little boxes instead of letters or symbols.

Font rendering in TenFourFox is accomplished with an older library called ATSUI instead of the CoreText library used in current versions of Mac OS X. CoreText is not fully implemented in 10.4 and has stability issues in 10.5, so we use ATSUI instead, which supports nearly all the same features. Unfortunately, due to bugs in ATSUI which Apple never corrected, some downloadable webfonts are incompatible and display characters as weird little "boxes" (with a character resembling an "A," or sometimes a series of tiny hexadecimal digits). On 10.4 systems, an error window may also appear; on 10.5, the browser may even crash under certain circumstances.

We cannot automatically detect these fonts due to limitations in the system libraries we require to remain compatible with 10.4, so we keep a "blacklist" of webfonts and webfont URLs that are known to cause problems. When the browser is requested to use a font on the blacklist, it quietly drops it and switches to a fallback font which will hopefully display correctly.

Unfortunately, maintaining the "blacklist" is a manual process. Periodically as URLs change or new fonts are used, the blacklist must be updated. If a site you use is causing this problem, you need to identify the font URL:

  • Get to a page with the bad fonts.
  • Go to Tools, Web Developer, Inspector. Wait for the Web Inspector panel to load.
  • You will see two main panes on the lower half of your browser. On the right pane, click the Fonts tab.
  • Click the button "See all the fonts used in the page."
  • Scroll through the list of fonts. Some will not appear or will not say "Abc." These are the defective fonts. Below each entry is a little box with part of a URL. Click in that box, Command-A to select all and Command-C to copy.

You can then submit a patch to issue 566, or post the URLs to that issue and ask for assistance.

Can I use AppleScript to control 10.4Fx?

Yes, though some features work a little differently than many other applications. See our page on AppleScript.

Does 10.4Fx support IonMonkey JavaScript JIT acceleration?

Yes. Starting with version 38, TenFourFox has a nearly complete implementation of the IonMonkey JavaScript compiler with special enhancements for PowerPC. We call it IonPower.

IonPower automatically accelerates both the browser, add-ons and website JavaScript by transparently compiling JavaScript into native PowerPC machine language; see our tech notes. It runs as much as 40 times faster than the interpreter.

On some sites, I keep getting "Unresponsive script" errors.

As sites become larger and use more complex JavaScript, even with the special acceleration in 10.4Fx, execution will be slow particularly on G3 and early G4 systems. When script runtime exceeds a certain threshold, this error appears. The error is otherwise harmless and you can continue to wait if you know the operation will complete.

If you get this window frequently, there are a few ways you can improve the browser's script performance. Try some or all:

  • Remove unnecessary browser add-ons. These sometimes will interfere with some sites.
  • Consider enabling basic adblock (next question), which can improve browser performance overall.
  • Use the NoScript add-on and allow JavaScript only to run on certain necessary sites.
  • Disable the unresponsive script warning entirely: go to about:config, find the option dom.max_script_run_time and set it to zero.

You can also turn JavaScript on and off manually by checking or unchecking the option under Tools.

How do I use the built-in adblocker?

TenFourFox adds support for basic adblock, which blocks certain nuisance scripts that implement ads, trackers, cryptominers and other kinds of browser-based malware. As a nice side effect, this interferes with many ads and adblocker-blockers and improves the overall performance of the browser by reducing the amount of JavaScript that must be executed.

Basic adblock is just that: basic. It does not, nor is it designed to, completely block all advertising content and some sites can still track you with non-JavaScript means such as cookies and beacon images. If the script is part of the basic functionality of the website, even if it also serves ads or does user tracking, by policy we don't block those.

You can use basic adblock in combination with other adblock add-ons, though basic adblock can be substantially faster if used by itself. Basic adblock also functions in Private Browsing windows, which implement additional tracker blocking.

To enable basic adblock, go to Preferences, click TenFourFox, and check "Enable basic adblock." The internal list may be periodically updated. If you have suggestions, post a patch or make a pull request.

Does 10.4Fx support Firefox Sync?

If you have a Firefox account, you can use Firefox Sync with TenFourFox. This will enable you to synchronize your history and bookmarks with Firefox on other computers or on your mobile devices.

Sync is a service provided by Mozilla, who do not support TenFourFox. You use Firefox Sync at your own risk. Because we don't control the backend software, incompatible changes could occur without warning which may not be immediately fixable, and it is possible these changes could permanently prevent TenFourFox from accessing Firefox Sync in the future. It is also possible, however unlikely, that data formats might change in future versions and corrupt or erase your history, bookmarks or other settings. You are strongly advised to keep backups of your TenFourFox profile and have another system with regular desktop Firefox available for synchronization in case TenFourFox is unable to access your data.

In addition, we advise you do not synchronize preferences with TenFourFox (uncheck that box). Certain important settings are configured differently for performance and compatibility reasons in TenFourFox; these settings are inappropriate in mainline Firefox, and mainline Firefox settings may cause adverse behaviour in TenFourFox.

Does 10.4Fx support Firefox add-ons?

Yes, if they are compatible with Firefox 45 and do not require an Intel Macintosh. While many current versions of add-ons require later versions of Firefox, older versions will generally function. Unfortunately Mozilla has removed virtually all of these versions from their archives.

We offer an archive of some add-ons; note that although these are attested to work with TenFourFox, we do not support them. If you don't find the add-on there, you may be able to find it at the third-party Classic Add-ons Archive. To install them, simply download them and drop them on any open browser window. Some add-ons will not function until the browser is restarted.

Note that adding large numbers of add-ons will make your browser slower, and a badly-coded add-on may cause your browser to act in unexpected ways. If the browser starts acting incorrectly, consider temporarily disabling or removing add-ons to isolate the problem. You can view the addons that are installed and disable or uninstall them as necessary by going to Tools, Add-ons.

Remember: add-ons and plugins are not the same; we don't support plugins at all and here's why. That said, even though the browser will run add-ons, you use those add-ons at your own risk. If one of them breaks the browser, that's your problem.

Tiger users should note that even if an extension works with PowerPC, some may require Leopard.

Gopher sites no longer work in 10.4Fx.

You can enable the Gopher protocol with the OverbiteFF addon. Do not use OverbiteWX or OverbiteNX; they are intended for mainline Firefox and are not compatible with TenFourFox.

1Password does not work with 10.4Fx.

Users have asked AgileBits to support TenFourFox in 1Password and Agile has refused to support any non-Intel build of Firefox after 3.6, including TenFourFox. If you are unhappy about this policy, please tell them so (especially if you are a paid user -- though ignorant comments like this from their staff, who clearly don't know what TenFourFox is and don't care, make it very unlikely they will be of assistance and you should keep that in mind if you're not using the latest and greatest and choose to buy anything in the future from AgileBits). In the meantime, if you absolutely require 1Password support, you are stuck with Firefox 3.6. There is no way, unfortunately, to force 1Password to work with TenFourFox from our end.

Does 10.4Fx support plugins or Flash?

No. Plugins no longer operate in TenFourFox. 10.4Fx uses older compositing code to remain compatible with OS X Tiger which is incompatible with later versions of Firefox. More to the point, few if any PowerPC-compatible plugins remain updated, and Adobe no longer supports Flash on Power Macintosh.

When you visit a site with plugin content, an informational box may appear on the page where the plugin would normally appear. Sites may also tell you that you have no plugins installed. This is intentional, so that the site can try to present alternate content that does not require a plugin.

Some users have had success with SandboxSafari, which is a way to run the Safari WebKit engine with reduced privileges. This can then run plugins like Flash with reduced privileges, making them less likely to be exploited successfully. However, this method is only a safer way to use them and is not completely safe, and although it includes TenFourFox integration, officially we don't offer any support for people who use this tool. You use it at your own risk.

Between 6.0 and 17.0.11 an undocumented, unsupported plugin enable setting existed. This option is now completely gone because Mozilla completely removed the older compatibility code. If you turned it on in a previous version of TenFourFox, it will not work in version 19.0 and higher.

We explain this policy in more detail and ways you can access content without plugins.

How can I play WebM video?

WebM video support for VP8 and VP9 is built into TenFourFox, including for YouTube. No special software is necessary.

How can I play H.264 video?

If a site offers HTML5 H.264 video as an option, such as Vimeo and many news sites, you can install the MP4 Enabler. This installs a sidecar library that adds support for playing H.264 and other MPEG-4 video formats directly inside the browser. This library is separately distributed due to licensing differences, and is only supported on systems 1.25GHz or faster (G4/7450 and G5).

Some sites will work with the older QuickTime Enabler add-on and will offer the best performance as the video plays outside of the browser. While the QTE is still compatible with TenFourFox, unfortunately it relies on your system's QuickTime libraries to play streaming video, which means it works on fewer sites than the MP4 Enabler.

Online video is too slow on my Mac.

Online video is slower than playing video in a standalone application because the browser must decode, scale and composite the video at the same time it is servicing other browser windows and tabs. In addition, there is no hardware acceleration, although AltiVec acceleration is available for G4 and G5 computers.

Here are some general tips for improving performance:

  • Systems slower than 1.25GHz are likely to perform badly. Although video may play on these computers, we don't support them, and we strongly recommend a G5 for HTML5 video. In particular, although you may be able to play some very low bitrate videos acceptably, G3 systems are not supported for online video playback at all.
  • Make sure you have sufficient RAM installed. If you have less than 1GB of RAM, your computer is likely to swap other programs out (especially on 10.5), which will slow video playback further. We recommend at least 1.5GB.
  • Don't let the video autoplay. This will cause the browser to dramatically slow while it tries to load the page and play the video at the same time. Click once anywhere on the video to pause it and let the rest of the page load, and then click once on the video to start it again. Or, you can use any of the Firefox autoplay disabler extensions which will do this automatically.
  • Consider reducing video quality (see the next two questions).
  • Close unnecessary tabs and windows. If you have many tabs or windows open and loaded, the browser must service them too, which can steal CPU time from playing the video.
  • Don't make the window too big. On a wide screen you may be tempted to make the browser window fill it, but YouTube will then faithfully try to make the video bigger also.

Full-screen and theatre mode are only of acceptable performance on high-spec G5 systems, and only in standard definition. You should leave the video windowed on lower-end G5 systems and all G4 systems.

Should I turn MediaSource Extensions (MSE) off?

There are two supported types of WebM video: VP8, the older technology, which is less computationally intense but provides poorer bitrates (comparable to H.264), and VP9, a newer technology that can offer better resolution in less space but requires more work to decode it (comparable to H.265/HEVC).

VP9 YouTube video requires Media Source Extensions (MSE) and has been officially supported since TenFourFox 45.5. VP8 video has been supported since TenFourFox 4. TenFourFox offers custom AltiVec acceleration for both VP8 and VP9 on all G4 and G5 systems. VP8 YouTube video is usually offered only at 360p resolution, while VP9 YouTube video with MSE allows you to choose from several resolutions, usually 144p, 240p, 360p and 480p (as well as HD resolutions, which we do not recommend).

Many video sites, most notoriously YouTube, seem to require MSE with TenFourFox to play video, and MSE is more flexible with playback options. However, when MSE is disabled, VP8 is selected on sites that offer WebM, which can be faster. Test and see what works best for you. If you're not sure, leave it turned on for highest compatibility.

MSE makes no difference for H.264 performance, so if you are primarily playing video in that format, you should leave it on.

How can I play online video at a lower resolution?

Playing YouTube videos at lower resolutions can dramatically improve performance at the cost of lower quality. Low-spec G4 systems may perform substantially better at 144p, for example. On the other hand, a Quad G5 can usually manage 360p and sometimes 480p with minor numbers of dropped frames. The best resolution will vary based on your system.

By default, YouTube plays VP9 video at 360p on TenFourFox. If you want to change this, follow these steps:

  • Go to Preferences and select the TenFourFox preference pane, and make sure the MSE option is checked. Reload any open video pages.
  • To select a lower resolution instead of 360p:
    • If the video autoplays, click it once to pause it (or use one of the Firefox autoplay disabler extensions).
    • Click the gear icon on the video.
    • Choose the desired resolution.
    • Resume the video. There may be a pause while the new resolution buffers.

Similar steps also work for sites like Vimeo, which uses H.264 video instead, and can also improve their performance.

Unfortunately, many sites do not offer any bitrate options, though these sites usually play at standard definition rates.

High definition video really sucks!

Unfortunately, no Power Mac, not even the Quad G5, can currently play high definition WebM in the browser at any reasonable frame rate.

Does 10.4Fx support MP3 audio?

Yes. TenFourFox supports playing back MP3 files and streaming MP3 audio (such as many Internet radio sites), as well as HTML5 audio encoded in MP3. For example, Shoutcast and Soundcloud are compatible. This support is built-in to TenFourFox and no special software is necessary.

Does 10.4Fx support asm.js?

Yes, but without special acceleration; the regular JavaScript JIT is used instead. Additionally, some scripts assume the computer is little-endian (all Power Macs are big-endian). While there is code in TenFourFox to compensate for this under limited circumstances, some scripts will still not run or will malfunction. Fixing this problem would (in some cases severely) impact the performance of other types of JavaScript, so this is not likely to change.

Does 10.4Fx support WebAssembly or wasm?

No. Besides the sizable amount of work required, WebAssembly applications also often make certain assumptions about memory layout which are fundamentally incompatible with big-endian systems like Power Macs. WebAssembly-based applications will not start on TenFourFox; however, the site may be able to select a JavaScript or asm.js fallback.

Does 10.4Fx support Java?

No. Java applet support is completely disabled. Java on 10.4 requires the Java Embedding Plugin, and as mentioned, plugins are no longer supported either. More to the point, neither 10.4 nor 10.5 receive security updates to the JVM any more, and trojans such as Flashback have been able to escalate their privileges even on Power Macs using flaws in these older Java environments. For these reasons Java is no longer supported by TenFourFox, and we strongly recommend you only run signed Java applets from trusted sources on Power Macintoshes.

Does 10.4Fx support WebGL?

No. WebGL requires OpenGL 2, which is not supported on Tiger, and Mozilla does not support WebGL on 10.5 either.

However, 10.4Fx does use native CoreGraphics for many portions of the browser, which may be hardware accelerated by the operating system.

This document didn't answer my question.

You may be able to talk to the developer(s) at the TenFourFox Development blog, but remember: there is no support. You should not expect an answer, and certainly should not expect exactly the answer you want. Remember, the browser is a hobby now and nothing more.