Firefox 160 Arrives with ‘Mini Window’ Multitasking, Enhanced Picture-in-Picture, and Streamlined Search Controls

Mozilla has officially released Firefox 160, bringing a host of notable updates designed to improve multitasking, enhance media consumption, and refine everyday web navigation. Headlining this release is an innovative experimental feature known as "Mini Window," which aims to bridge the gap between traditional browser tabs and floating desktop widgets. Alongside this marquee addition, the latest version of the open-source browser introduces handy playback speed controls for its popular Picture-in-Picture mode, clearer context menu distinctions for text and URLs, and a comprehensive suite of security and stability patches.

The standout feature in Firefox 160 is the introduction of the "Mini Window" option, currently rolling out in beta. This capability allows users to detach an entire web page or isolate a specific portion of content into a dedicated, always-on-top floating window. According to Mozilla, the feature was engineered specifically to assist users who frequently engage in heavy multitasking and require multiple live sources of information to remain visible simultaneously. In concept, it functions similarly to the browser’s existing Picture-in-Picture mode, but applies the concept to general web pages, data dashboards, reference documents, or social media feeds rather than video streams alone.

For users wishing to experiment with the new functionality, interacting with Mini Window is designed to be straightforward. An entire tab can be converted by right-clicking it, navigating to the Move Tab menu, and selecting the option to move it into a Mini Window. This action spawns a compact, resizable, floating window equipped with an address bar and navigation buttons that intelligently auto-hide when not in use to maximize screen real estate. Alternatively, users can customize their toolbar to include a dedicated Mini Window icon. Clicking this icon while viewing a page offers the flexibility to either share the entire tab or isolate a specific section.

Furthermore, a direct section-popout feature is accessible via a right-click context menu option labeled "Move Section to Mini Window." Selecting this prompts the user to drag and outline the exact portion of the page they wish to extract, which then pops out into its own persistent, floating frame. Because the feature is currently in its beta testing phase, Mozilla has actively invited user feedback through its community support channels to help refine and stabilize the tool ahead of future mainstream iterations.

In addition to the Mini Window debut, Firefox 160 brings meaningful improvements to the browser’s established Picture-in-Picture mode. Video enthusiasts will find that PiP windows now feature a direct button to adjust playback speeds dynamically, supporting a range from 0.25x up to 2.0x depending on the capabilities of the underlying media source. To maintain a clean and uncluttered interface, this playback speed button intelligently appears only when the player window has been scaled to a sufficient size to accommodate it comfortably.

Text handling and search behaviors within the address bar have also undergone a thoughtful revision. Users who routinely copy text to their clipboards with the intention of executing a quick web search will notice that the address bar context menu now specifically displays "Paste and Search" when handling plain text strings. Meanwhile, the distinct label "Paste and Go" is strictly reserved for instances where the clipboard contents are recognized as valid URLs. This subtle separation is intended to eliminate ambiguity and streamline the user’s intent when transitioning from external text snippets directly into browser queries.

Under the hood, Firefox 160 includes several targeted visual and functional adjustments. The update improves the visual contrast between domain names and the remainder of the address bar text, enhancing overall readability and security awareness. It also resolves minor text selection and cursor placement quirks that occasionally affected touch-input devices, and eliminates small, intermittent freezes that previously impacted user sign-in processes on enterprise intranet sites utilizing NTLM or Kerberos authentication protocols.

As is customary with every major browser release, Firefox 160 incorporates a fresh crop of critical security patches to address underlying vulnerabilities and ensure a safer browsing environment.

As free, open-source software, Firefox 160 is immediately available for download through the official Mozilla FTP server, with public download links rolling out across the main Mozilla website. Existing desktop users running Windows, macOS, or Linux binary builds will receive the update automatically through the browser’s built-in update mechanism, or via the specific app stores and package repositories from which the software was originally deployed. Users operating on Ubuntu will receive the latest version via an automatic background update delivered through the Snap Store.