Firefox 81 comes with support for multimedia key control as standard

Mozilla activates the api in Firefox 81 by default that allows control of media via multimedia keys on a keyboard or laptop. The api is already in current versions of the browser, but must be activated manually.

Developers are discussing on Bugzilla about enabling multimedia key controls and have decided to turn the feature on by default in the final version of Firefox 81. When that version comes out, users will be able to control media on websites with function keys. This works, for example, when playing videos on YouTube or music on Spotify.

The feature uses the Media Session API, which has been in the browser for a long time. Users can also activate the feature in current Firefox versions, although official support is currently lacking. The functionality can be enabled by navigating to about: config and then activating the media.hardwaremediakeys.enabled and dom.media.mediasession.enabled flags.

In Google Chrome and Microsoft’s Edge browser based on Chromium, control via multimedia keys has been activated by default for some time. Apple’s Safari browser can already use such keys. Firefox 81 is scheduled for release in late September.