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Opera to Sustain Support for Legacy Extensions in Its Browser

Image Source: Jarretera / Shutterstock

This week, Opera Software introduced Opera One R2, a new stable release of its web browser that comes packed with a variety of features and improvements.

Key updates include a new dynamic themes feature, tab splitting, recent tab highlighting, advanced AI functionalities, and a subtle yet important detail found within the extensive announcement on the Opera Software website: continued support for Manifest V2 extensions.

Regarding extension support, Opera stated: “In addition to that, Opera R2 will continue supporting Manifest V2 extensions, allowing you to continue using your favorite ad blocking and privacy-enhancing extensions just like before.”

The announcement includes a link to additional information on the Opera website.

Opera is committed to maintaining support for Manifest V2 extensions in light of Chromium’s ongoing evolution, the backbone of Google Chrome and other similar browsers.

This commitment ensures that Opera users can install and utilize Manifest V2 extensions, including popular choices like uBlock Origin, in their browser.

However, the specifics of this support were not elaborated in the announcement. Opera Software mentioned its intention to collaborate with extension developers to “determine the best and safest way forward.”

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This ongoing support is critical, especially as Google plans to remove code related to Manifest V2 from Chromium in the upcoming year. Meanwhile, there are currently policies in place that allow the use of Manifest V2 extensions in Chromium-based browsers.

Google Chrome has already begun phasing out Manifest V2 support for users who do not have the required policies in place.

As of now, Brave Software is the only other company that has indicated that its browser, Brave, will offer support for a limited selection of Manifest V2 extensions moving forward.

If Opera follows through with its commitment to support all Manifest V2 extensions, it would enable users to keep using their preferred extensions alongside new Manifest V3 options, much like Firefox, which accommodates both extension types.

Opera Software holds a unique advantage over Brave Software and numerous other developers of Chromium-based browsers—apart from Microsoft and Google—because it operates its own extension store. While Opera users can access extensions from the Chrome Web Store, they can also make use of the company’s proprietary store.

On the other hand, Brave Software lacks its own store, which may have led to its choice to support only a limited number of extensions. Google is set to remove Manifest V2 extensions from its web store next year when the related policy expires.

Currently, two Chromium-based browsers are slated to maintain support for Manifest V2 extensions until mid-2025: Brave, which will back only a handful, and Opera, which aspires to support all of them.

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The future of this initiative remains unclear, as does the potential for other browser developers to follow suit and diverge significantly from the broader Chromium framework.

Image Source: Jarretera / Shutterstock

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