Comparison of layout engines (graphics)

The following tables compare graphics compatibility and support for a number of layout engines within web browsers. Please see the individual products' articles for further information.

Unless otherwise specified in footnotes, comparisons are based on the stable versions without any add-ons, extensions or external programs. Version numbers, if possible, are provided for features that are fully supported. Proprietary extensions are not included.

Explanation of the tables

Engine nomenclature

Rather than the names of web browsers, the names of the underlying engines are used. The browsers that use the various engines are listed below.

Layout engine Release version Preview version Used by
Amaya 11.4.7[1] N/A No longer developed; Amaya
Blink 537.36 source code[note 1] Chromium/Chrome (28+), Opera (15+), Yandex and Liebao.
Gecko

37.0.2 (April 20, 2015[2]) [±]
ESR 31.6.0 (March 31, 2015[3]) [±]
Beta

38.0 Beta 9 (April 30, 2015[4][5]) [±]

Developer Edition

39.0a2 (April 3, 2015[6]) [±] daily release

Nightly

40.0a1 (March 30, 2015[7]) [±] daily release

 All Mozilla software, including Firefox; SeaMonkey and Galeon; Camino; K-Meleon; Flock (up to 2.x); Debian IceWeasel; GNU IceCat (formerly GNU IceWeasel); Cyberfox; Icedove, Iceape and Iceowl; Fennec. Also used by the Maple platform in 2010 and 2011 Samsung "SmartTV" devices which are based on the build used in Firefox 3.0. Nokia Asha platform is also using Gecko for web apps rendering.
KHTML 4.12.3[8] N/A Konqueror[note 2]
Presto 2.12.388 N/A No longer developed; Opera and Opera Mobile use Blink now; Nintendo DS & DSi Browser; Internet Channel
Tasman (IE 5.2.3 for Mac) N/A No longer developed (aborted in 2003); Internet Explorer 5+ for Mac OS X
Trident 7.0 (IE 11) N/A Internet Explorer and other Internet Explorer shells like Maxthon (Microsoft Windows operating systems only), Windows Phone 8
WebKit 534.20 nightly build[note 3] Tizen (both OS and browser), Safari (both desktop and mobile), Google Chrome (before 28), Maxthon 3, Shiira, iCab 4, OmniWeb 5.5+, Web, Adobe AIR, Midori, Adobe Dreamweaver CS4 and CS5, Android browser, Palm webOS browser, Symbian S60 browser, OWB, Steam, Rekonq, Arora, Flock (version 3+), RockMelt, Dolphin Browser, Sleipnir, Konqueror[note 2]. Used by the LG Smart TV platform to enable web content on TVs.
  1. ↑ "chromium / chromium/blink". chromium.googlesource.com. Google. Retrieved 2014-05-27.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 In Konqueror, the user can switch the used layout engine.
  3. ↑ "WebKit Nightly Builds". webkit.org. Retrieved 2014-05-27.

Values

Values indicate the level of support in the most recent version of the layout engine, or (if a version number is given) in the specified version. Version numbers without any other value indicate the version at which the layout engine first fully supported the feature.

Value Meaning
Yes Indicates that the layout engine fully supports this property/element when valid values are used.
No Indicates that the property/element is completely ignored.
Partial Indicates that the property/element is understood, but that not all values are supported. Supported values are implemented correctly.
Incorrect Indicates that the property/element is understood, but that it is not implemented correctly in all cases.
Experimental Indicates that the property/element is understood, but supported under an alternate name. May be incomplete or buggy.
Dropped Indicates that the property/element is no longer supported.
Nightly build Indicates that the property/element is supported to some extent in an experimental/nightly build. Future support is expected.
Depends Indicates that the property/element is supported only on certain platforms, or if certain settings are configured.

Image format support

Trident Tasman Gecko[note 1] WebKit KHTML[note 2] Presto Prince XML
JPEG/JFIF <3.1[IE 3.0] Yes 1.0 85 Yes 1.0 3.0
JPEG 2000 (.jp2) No No No[g 1] Depends[note 3] No No No
JPEG XR 5.0[t 1] No No[g 2] No No No No
GIF GIF 89a <3.1[IE 3.0] Yes 1.0 85 Yes 1.0 5.0
GIF 87a
PNG 1.2 (W3C/ISO/IEC version) 3.1 Yes 1.0 85 Yes 1.0 3.0
1.1
1.0
MNG 1.0 No No Dropped[g 3] No[w 2] Yes No No
JNG 1.0 No
APNG 1.0 1.9 No[w 3] No[k 1] 2.1
BMP Yes ? Yes Yes Yes 1.0 ?
WBMP No ? No[g 4] ? ? 1.0 ?
ICO Yes ? Yes Yes Yes 1.0 ?
TIFF 5.0[t 1] No No[g 5] No Yes[k 2] No 3.0[note 4]
XBM Dropped[note 5] Yes[note 6] Dropped[note 7] Dropped[w 4] Yes[k 3] 1.0 No
WebP No No No[g 7] 534.10[w 5] No 2.8.131[p 1] No

JPEG support

Comparison of various JPEG/JFIF feature support.

Trident Tasman Gecko WebKit KParts Presto Prince XML[note 8]
Operation mode Progressive <3.1[IE 3.0]

[note 9]

 Yes 1.0 85 Yes 1.0 3.0
Baseline <3.1[IE 3.0]
Hierarchical ?
Lossless No

GIF support

Comparison of various GIF feature support.

Trident Tasman Gecko WebKit KParts Presto Prince XML[note 10]
GIF 87a Interlacing 3.1 Yes 1.0 85 Yes 1.0 3.0
GIF 89a Binary transparency
Animation

PNG support

Comparison of various PNG feature support.[9][10][11]

Trident Tasman Gecko WebKit KParts Presto Prince XML[note 11]
Color mode[note 12] True color <3.1[IE 4.0] Yes 1.0 85 Yes 1.0 3.0
Grayscale
Palette-based (max. 256 colors)
Alpha channel 3.1 Yes 1.0 85 Yes 1.0 3.0
Gamma correction 5.0[t 2] Partial[note 13] Incorrect[note 14] No[k 4] Partial[note 13] ?
Color correction 1.9 ? ? No 3.0
Interlacing Incorrect[note 15] 1.0 ? 4.0 1.0 ?
Integrity checking ? ? ? ? ? ? ?

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ Gecko uses the libpr0n library to render images.
  2. ↑ Does not have any native image support. This is by design: in Konqueror, multimedia files are handled by KParts.
  3. ↑ JPEG 2000 support is only available on the Mac OS X platform.[w 1] (Note that the referenced link leads to the Mozilla Bugzilla, where this was brought up and confirmed.)
  4. ↑ Prince uses the libtiff library to load TIFF images.
  5. ↑ Trident dropped support for XBM in Internet Explorer version 6.0.
  6. ↑ As of 5.2.3, the last publicly released version.
  7. ↑ Gecko dropped XBM support in version 1.9.2.[g 6]
  8. ↑ Prince uses the libjpeg library from the Independent JPEG Group to load JPEG images.
  9. ↑ Trident only displays progressive JPEGs once they have been completely downloaded.
  10. ↑ Prince uses the libungif library to load GIF images.
  11. ↑ Prince uses the libpng library to load PNG images.
  12. ↑ There are 15 combinations of the color modes in PNG but not all modes are available in every image editor.
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 Gecko and Presto currently support gamma correction for all color profiles except for ICC-profile.[12]
  14. ↑ Webkit incorrectly applies gamma correction to unlabeled PNGs.[w 6]
  15. ↑ In Trident, interlaced PNGs are displayed progressively, but in 1D instead of 2D.

References

Trident references

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Protalinski, Emil (2010-03-16), Platform Preview gives Web developers first taste of IE9, Ars Technica
  2. ↑ Windows Internet Explorer Platform Preview, Microsoft, 2010-03-15

Gecko references

  1. ↑ Bug 36351 - Support the jpeg2000 (jp2k) format, Mozilla
  2. ↑ Bug 500500 - Add support for JPEG-XR/HD Photo, Mozilla
  3. ↑ Bug 18574 - (mng) restore support for MNG animation format and JNG image format, Mozilla
  4. ↑ Bug 182621 - (wbmp) WAP BMP (wbmp) format support, Mozilla
  5. ↑ Bug 160261 - (TIFF) TIFF Support?, Mozilla
  6. ↑ Bug 504822 - Remove XBM support from Mozilla, Mozilla
  7. ↑ Bug 600919 - (WebP) Implement WebP image support, Mozilla

Webkit references

  1. ↑ Bug 36351 Comment 150 - Support the jpeg2000 (jp2k) format
  2. ↑ Bug 11368 - Support for 8bit transparent animations via MNG., WebKit
  3. ↑ Bug 17022 - Add APNG support, WebKit
  4. ↑ Bug 27823 – Remove XBM support, WebKit
  5. ↑ Bug 47512 - Add support for decoding WebP image, WebKit
  6. ↑ Sivonen, Henri, The Sad Story of PNG Gamma "Correction"

KHTML references

  1. ↑ Bug 88352 - APNG animated image file format support, KDE
  2. ↑ Faure, David, Re: Bug#15507: tiff, 'Open with:' -> many konqueror windows
  3. ↑ KDE Libraries - /khtml/imload/decoders/qimageioloader.cpp - KDE Projects
  4. ↑ Bug 179690 - PNG gamma correction doesn't work (bug 61829), KDE

Presto references

  1. ↑ Opera 11.10 for Windows changelog, Opera Software

Other references

  1. ↑ Amaya Binary Releases, Most recent download link in stable
  2. ↑ "Firefox — Notes (37.0.2) — Mozilla". mozilla.org. 2015-04-20. Retrieved 2015-04-20.
  3. ↑ "Firefox — Notes (31.6.0) — Mozilla". mozilla.org. 2015-03-31. Retrieved 2015-03-31.
  4. ↑ "Firefox — Beta Notes (38.0beta) — Mozilla". 2015-04-03. Retrieved 2015-04-03.
  5. ↑ "Mozilla Firefox Web Browser — Download Firefox Beta in your language — Mozilla". Retrieved 2015-04-29.
  6. ↑ "Firefox — Aurora Notes (39.0a2) — Mozilla". 2015-04-03. Retrieved 2015-04-05.
  7. ↑ "RapidRelease/Calendar - MozillaWiki". Retrieved 2015-02-26.
  8. ↑ Download for kdelibs, Most recent download link in stable
  9. ↑ "Jason Summers's web site", Browser test / demonstration pages, retrieved May 1, 2005
  10. ↑ "PNG and MNG tools", Browser gamma test, retrieved May 1, 2005
  11. ↑ "PNG (Portable Network Graphics) Home Site", PNG-supporting Browsers, retrieved May 1, 2005
  12. ↑ Roelofs, Greg, Browser Gamma-Consistency Test