In its version 81, the Mozilla web browser will support by default the multimedia control keys integrated into your PC keyboard. It is however possible to use it as of today in Firefox 79. Here is how to proceed.
After Google Chrome, it is Firefox’s turn to take over the multimedia control keys present on some PC keyboards. In version 81 of the browser – still under development – the first beta users can already control the playback of multimedia content using the dedicated keys on their keyboard.
This new functionality, which should be activated by default in Firefox 81, is however already available in Firefox 79. And it is within the hidden experimental functions that you have to go to take advantage of it. Here is how to activate the function today in Firefox 79
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- Download Firefox for Linux (Free)
1. Access the experimental features of Firefox
Open a Firefox web browser window on your machine then, in the address bar, type about: config.
In the alert window that appears, click Accept the risk and continue.
2. Activate control key support
In the search box displayed at the top of the window, search for media.hardwaremediakeys.enabled. Then click on the Reverse button represented by a double arrow, to the right of the line. The value False should change to True.
Then find the function dom.media.mediasession.enabled and enable it as well, as you just did previously.
3. Restart the browser
Then close all browser windows and restart it so that the modified elements are taken into account.
Then head over to your favorite music streaming platform. You should be able to control the play and pause of a song, but also skip to the next track or go back to the previous track.