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Many Linux distributions come with Firefox pre-installed and set as the default browser. However, if you need to install Firefox on Linux using a different method, the following guide will show you how to install Firefox on Ubuntu, Debian, Fedora, openSUSE and other Linux distributions.
This article only applies to Linux.
For instructions to install Firefox on Mac, see
How to download and install Firefox on Mac
For instructions to install Firefox on Windows, see
How to install Firefox on Windows
Table of Contents
Install Firefox .deb package for Debian-based distributions (recommended)
1.1
Set up different languages in Firefox with .deb files
1.2
Data migration
Install Firefox .rpm package (recommended)
2.1
To install the .rpm package through the dnf5 package manager
2.2
To install the .rpm package through the zypper package manager
2.3
To install the .rpm package for other RPM based distributions
2.4
Adding language packs
Install from your distribution package manager
Install from Flatpak
Install from Snap
Install Firefox from Mozilla builds
6.1
System Firefox installation (for advanced users)
6.2
Local Firefox installation in user's account
Security features warning
Related articles
Install Firefox .deb package for Debian-based distributions (recommended)
To install the
.deb
package through the APT repository, do the following:
Create a directory to store APT repository keys if it doesn't exist:
sudo install -d -m 0755 /etc/apt/keyrings
Import the Mozilla APT repository signing key:
wget -q https://packages.mozilla.org/apt/repo-signing-key.gpg -O- | sudo tee /etc/apt/keyrings/packages.mozilla.org.asc > /dev/null
If you do not have
wget
installed, you can install it with:
sudo apt-get install wget
The fingerprint should be
35BAA0B33E9EB396F59CA838C0BA5CE6DC6315A3
. You may check it with the following command:
gpg -n -q --import --import-options import-show /etc/apt/keyrings/packages.mozilla.org.asc | awk '/pub/{getline; gsub(/^ +| +$/,""); if($0 == "35BAA0B33E9EB396F59CA838C0BA5CE6DC6315A3") print "\nThe key fingerprint matches ("$0").\n"; else print "\nVerification failed: the fingerprint ("$0") does not match the expected one.\n"}'
Next, add the Mozilla APT repository to your sources.list:
For Debian Bookworm and Older:
echo "deb [signed-by=/etc/apt/keyrings/packages.mozilla.org.asc] https://packages.mozilla.org/apt mozilla main" | sudo tee -a /etc/apt/sources.list.d/mozilla.list > /dev/null
For Debian Trixie and Newer
cat <Types: deb
URIs: https://packages.mozilla.org/apt
Suites: mozilla
Components: main
Signed-By: /etc/apt/keyrings/packages.mozilla.org.asc
EOF
Configure APT to prioritize packages from the Mozilla repository:
cat <Package: *
Pin: origin packages.mozilla.org
Pin-Priority: 1000
EOF
Update your package list, and install
firefox
(or one of
firefox-esr
-beta
-nightly
-devedition
):
sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install firefox
Set up different languages in Firefox with .deb files
For those of you who would like to use Firefox in a different language than American English, we have also created
.deb
packages containing the Firefox language packs. To install a specific language pack, replace fr in the example below with the desired language code. In this example, we are installing the French language pack of Firefox.
sudo apt-get install firefox-l10n-fr
To list all the available language packs, you can use this command after adding the Mozilla APT repository and running
sudo apt-get update
apt-cache search firefox-l10n
Data migration
If you were using Snap or Flatpak before, you are required to import your profile. There are two ways to do this. You can use either of these methods:
Method 1:
Set up Sync. For instruction, see
How do I set up Sync on my computer?
Method 2:
Copy the existing files on your computer. Make sure that all copies of Firefox on your computer are completely closed before doing this:
Flatpak:
mkdir -p ~/.mozilla/firefox/ && cp -a ~/.var/app/org.mozilla.firefox/.mozilla/firefox/* ~/.mozilla/firefox/
Snap:
mkdir -p ~/.mozilla/firefox/ && cp -a ~/snap/firefox/common/.mozilla/firefox/* ~/.mozilla/firefox/
In both cases, once you’ve moved the profiles, launch Firefox from the terminal with the command
firefox -P
. Select your desired profile. After this initial setup, the
-P
command will no longer be necessary.
Install Firefox .rpm package (recommended)
To install the
.rpm
package through the dnf5 package manager
sudo dnf config-manager addrepo --id=mozilla --set=baseurl=https://packages.mozilla.org/rpm/firefox --set=gpgkey=https://packages.mozilla.org/rpm/firefox/signing-key.gpg --set=gpgcheck=1 --set=repo_gpgcheck=0 --set=priority=10
sudo dnf makecache --refresh
sudo dnf install firefox
Note:
repo_gpgcheck=0
deactivates the signature of metadata with GPG. However, this is safeguarded instead by HTTPS and package signatures (
gpgcheck=1
).
To install the
.rpm
package through the zypper package manager
sudo rpm --import https://packages.mozilla.org/rpm/firefox/signing-key.gpg
sudo zypper ar --gpgcheck-allow-unsigned-repo -p 10 https://packages.mozilla.org/rpm/firefox mozilla
sudo zypper refresh
sudo zypper install firefox
To install the
.rpm
package for other RPM based distributions
sudo tee /etc/yum.repos.d/mozilla.repo > /dev/null << EOF
[mozilla]
name=Mozilla Packages
baseurl=https://packages.mozilla.org/rpm/firefox
enabled=1
gpgcheck=1
repo_gpgcheck=0
gpgkey=https://packages.mozilla.org/rpm/firefox/signing-key.gpg
priority=10
EOF
Then, if you are using dnf:
sudo dnf makecache --refresh
sudo dnf install firefox
Or, if you are using zypper:
sudo zypper refresh
sudo zypper install firefox
Adding language packs
The installation should pick up the language that you have your distribution set to. You can also install a language pack manually with (replace
fr
with your language choice):
sudo dnf install firefox-l10n-fr
To list the available languages:
dnf search firefox-l10n
Install from your distribution package manager
To install Firefox using your distribution package manager, please refer to your Linux distribution's documentation.
This method is recommended because it ensures Firefox and all the required libraries are installed and configured optimally for your distribution. However, there may be a small delay between the official release of a new version of Firefox and the moment when your distribution updates the version it distributes. Your distribution may also distribute it without the Firefox branding or only distribute the
ESR
Install from Flatpak
To install Firefox from Flatpak,
install and configure Flatpak
on your computer. Once Flatpak is installed, go to the
Firefox Flathub's page
, and click the
Install
button. Alternatively, you can type the following command in a terminal:
flatpak install flathub org.mozilla.firefox
By default, Flatpak installs Firefox in the same locale as your operating system. To use a different language, please follow the instructions on
how to use Firefox in another language
Install from Snap
To install Firefox from Snap,
install Snap
on your computer. Once Snap is installed, go to the
Firefox Snapcraft's Store page
, click the
Install
button, and follow the instructions. Alternatively, you can type the following command in a terminal:
sudo snap install firefox
Firefox Beta, Nightly and ESR Release Channel is also available as snap package
Beta Channel:
sudo snap install firefox --beta
Nightly Channel
sudo snap install firefox --edge
ESR Channel
sudo snap install firefox --channel=esr/stable
If available, Snap installs Firefox in the same locale as your operating system. To use a different language, please follow the instructions on
how to use Firefox in another language
Install Firefox from Mozilla builds
Before you install Firefox from a Mozilla build, make sure that your computer has the
required libraries
installed. Missing or incompatible libraries may cause Firefox to be inoperable.
System Firefox installation (for advanced users)
To install Firefox with this method, you
must be
able to log in as root or execute
sudo
commands.
This installation will have priority over the Firefox version installed through your package manager. To run the version installed with your package manager, you will need to execute the binary from a terminal. To do so in most distributions, open a terminal and type:
/usr/bin/firefox
Go to the
Firefox download page
, and click
Download for Linux 32-bit
or
Download for Linux 64-bit
Open a terminal, and go to the folder where your download has been saved. For example:
cd ~/Downloads
Extract the contents of the downloaded file by typing:
tar xjf firefox-*.tar.bz2
The following commands must be executed as root or preceded by
sudo
Move the uncompressed Firefox folder to
/opt
mv firefox /opt
Create a symlink to the Firefox executable:
ln -s /opt/firefox/firefox /usr/local/bin/firefox
Download a copy of the desktop file:
wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/mozilla/sumo-kb/main/install-firefox-linux/firefox.desktop -P /usr/local/share/applications
Alternatively, if
wget
is not installed on your computer, go to the URL mentioned above, right-click on the page to open the contextual menu, and select
Save Page As
. After you downloaded the file, move it to
/usr/local/share/applications
To verify that the installation was successful, you can open the
Troubleshooting Information
page. In the
Application Basics
section, the value of the line
Application Binary
should be
/opt/firefox/firefox-bin
Local Firefox installation in user's account
If you don't have access to login as root or execute
sudo
commands, or just prefer to use a local Firefox in your account, you can make a local installation. You can also do this to have multiple Firefox installations for different builds.
Go to the
Firefox download page
, and click the
Download Now
button.
You can also click the
Download a different platform or language
link below that button to choose another build: Nightly, Beta, Developer or ESR.
Open a terminal, and go to the folder where your download has been saved. For example:
cd ~/Downloads
Extract the downloaded file contents. This will create a folder named
firefox
. After that, you can delete the archive:
tar xjf firefox-*.tar.bz2
rm firefox-*.tar.bz2
If you downloaded a specific build, you may want to rename the uncompressed folder accordingly. For example:
mv firefox firefox-nightly
You can leave the uncompressed folder into your download folder, or move it to another place in your account. For example:
mv firefox ~/firefox
Firefox is now ready to be used. You can run it directly from the terminal:
~/firefox/firefox &
Create a desktop shortcut. (It may be different in your Linux distribution.)
Right-click on the desktop, and choose
Create launcher
from the context menu.
You can also type this on the terminal:
ln -s ~/firefox/firefox ~/Desktop/
An icon for the desktop shortcut will be found in
~/firefox/browser/chrome/icons/default/
Note:
This method doesn't change file types binding on the system, so links from other applications will not open in the local installation. You will need to copy the link and paste it in the Firefox address bar.
Security features warning
On some Linux distributions, you could see a notification that
some of Firefox’s security features may offer less protection on your current operating system
. To learn more, see
Firefox security features warning on Linux
Related articles
Firefox security features warning on Linux
Make Firefox your default browser
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