Another day, and another new snapshot release of the pro-user orientated web browser Vivaldi.
The latest development release of the browser improves proprietary media support on Linux, with specific finesse levelled at Ubuntu, OpenSUSE and — somewhat awesomely — Slackware.
Vivaldi’s Ruarí Ødegaard says the browser has supported HTML5 proprietary media formats, including H.264 MP4 video and MP3 audio, since late last year, but that:
“On Ubuntu […] we would only accept certain (very recent) versions of [the chromium-codecs-ffmpeg-extra] package, meaning that occasionally (in snapshots) proprietary media would stop working.”
For the latest Snapshot the browser eases off the strict requirements about which chromium-codecs-ffmpeg-extra library it will work with. This means any of you that still rock an older Ubuntu release can now, in theory, get proprietary media up and running with little to no effort.
As Ruarí explains: “proprietary media works more reliably for even more Linux users” — and that’s great.
Elsewhere the Snapshot squashes a few bugs and polishes around the edges of a few new features.
Vivaldi is a free download and is available across Windows, Mac and Linux.