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The history of the
Opera Opera is a form of History of theatre#European theatre, Western theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by Singing, singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically ...
web browser began in 1994 when it was started as a research project at
Telenor Telenor ASA ( or ) is a Norwegian majority state-owned multinational telecommunications company headquartered at Fornebu in Bærum, close to Oslo. It is one of the world's largest mobile telecommunications companies with operations worldwi ...
, the largest Norwegian telecommunications company. In 1995, the project branched out into a separate company named
Opera Software Opera (formerly Opera Software AS) is a Norwegian multinational technology corporation headquartered in Oslo, Norway with additional offices in European Union, Europe, China, and Africa. Opera offers a range of products and services that inclu ...
ASA Asa may refer to: People and fictional characters * Asa (given name), a given name, including a list of people and fictional characters so named * Asa people, an ethnic group based in Tanzania * Aṣa, Nigerian-French singer, songwriter, and reco ...
, with the first publicly available version released in 1996. Opera has undergone extensive changes and improvements, and introduced notable features such as Speed Dial. Until version 2.0, the Opera browser was called MultiTorg Opera (version 1.0) and had only a limited internal release—although it was demonstrated publicly at the Third International WWW Conference in April 1995. It was known for its
multiple document interface A multiple-document interface (MDI) is a graphical user interface in which multiple windows reside under a single parent window. Such systems often allow child windows to embed other windows inside them as well, creating complex Hierarchy#Nested hi ...
(MDI) and 'hotlist' (sidebar), which made browsing several pages at once much easier, as well as being the first browser to completely focus on adhering to the
W3C The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) is the main international standards organization for the World Wide Web. Founded in 1994 by Tim Berners-Lee, the consortium is made up of member organizations that maintain full-time staff working together in ...
standards. In February 2013, Opera Software announced that their in-house rendering engine, Presto, would be phased out in favour of
WebKit WebKit is a browser engine primarily used in Apple's Safari web browser, as well as all web browsers on iOS and iPadOS. WebKit is also used by the PlayStation consoles starting with the PS3, the Tizen mobile operating systems, the Amazon K ...
. Opera 15 saw the browser being fully rewritten, with this and subsequent releases being based on
Blink Blinking is a bodily function; it is a semi-autonomic rapid closing of the eyelid. A single blink is determined by the forceful closing of the eyelid or inactivation of the levator palpebrae superioris and the activation of the palpebral por ...
and
Chromium Chromium is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Cr and atomic number 24. It is the first element in Group 6 element, group 6. It is a steely-grey, Luster (mineralogy), lustrous, hard, and brittle transition metal. Chromium ...
.


Original versions


Version 2

Version 2.0, the first public release of Opera, was released as
shareware Shareware is a type of proprietary software that is initially shared by the owner for trial use at little or no cost. Often the software has limited functionality or incomplete documentation until the user sends payment to the software developer. ...
in 1996. Due to popular demand, Opera Software showed interest in programming its browser for alternative operating systems such as
Apple Macintosh Mac is a brand of personal computers designed and marketed by Apple Inc., Apple since 1984. The name is short for Macintosh (its official name until 1999), a reference to the McIntosh (apple), McIntosh apple. The current product lineup inclu ...
,
QNX QNX ( or ) is a commercial Unix-like real-time operating system, aimed primarily at the embedded systems market. The product was originally developed in the early 1980s by Canadian company Quantum Software Systems, founded March 30, 1980, and l ...
and
BeOS BeOS is a discontinued operating system for personal computers that was developed by Be Inc. It was conceived for the company's BeBox personal computer which was released in 1995. BeOS was designed for multitasking, multithreading, and a graph ...
. On October 10, 1997, they launched "Project Magic", an effort to measure user interest in the development of new Opera releases for other operating systems, in order to fund the development of a new version appropriately. On November 30, 1997 they closed voting for which operating system to develop with. Project Magic then became a news column for updates for alternative operating systems until version 4.


Version 3

Opera 3 was the first version of Opera with
JavaScript JavaScript (), often abbreviated as JS, is a programming language and core technology of the World Wide Web, alongside HTML and CSS. Ninety-nine percent of websites use JavaScript on the client side for webpage behavior. Web browsers have ...
support, but
Java Java is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea (a part of Pacific Ocean) to the north. With a population of 156.9 million people (including Madura) in mid 2024, proje ...
was still missing. It was released for multiple operating systems on December 31, 1997.


Elektra versions


Version 3.5/3.6

In 1998, Opera 3.5 was released, adding Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) support,
TLS 1.0 Transport Layer Security (TLS) is a cryptographic protocol designed to provide communications security over a computer network, such as the Internet. The protocol is widely used in applications such as email, instant messaging, and voice over IP, ...
the Elektra rendering engine, and file upload capability. Since version 3.5, Opera has supported CSS, and
Håkon Wium Lie Håkon Wium Lie (born July 26, 1965) is a Norwegian web pioneer, a standards activist, and the chairman of YesLogic, developers of Prince CSS-based PDF rendering software. He is best known for developing Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) while work ...
, one of the inventors of CSS, is the CTO at Opera. Up to 6.0 Opera supported most common web standards, Netscape plugins and some other recent standards such as WAP and WML for wireless devices, but its implementation of advanced
ECMAScript ECMAScript (; ES) is a standard for scripting languages, including JavaScript, JScript, and ActionScript. It is best known as a JavaScript standard intended to ensure the interoperability of web pages across different web browsers. It is stan ...
(of which "JavaScript" is an implementation) and the
HTML Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) is the standard markup language for documents designed to be displayed in a web browser. It defines the content and structure of web content. It is often assisted by technologies such as Cascading Style Sheets ( ...
Document Object Model The Document Object Model (DOM) is a cros s-platform and language-independent API that treats an HTML or XML document as a tree structure wherein each node is an object representing a part of the document. The DOM represents a document with ...
was poor. Version 3.6 was released on May 12, 1999. The 16-bit version of Opera for Windows 3.62 is the last version to support Windows 3.x. Further releases would require
Windows 95 Windows 95 is a consumer-oriented operating system developed by Microsoft and the first of its Windows 9x family of operating systems, released to manufacturing on July 14, 1995, and generally to retail on August 24, 1995. Windows 95 merged ...
. Opera 3.62 adds EPOC support.


Version 4

On June 28, 2000, Opera 4 was released, introducing a new
cross-platform Within computing, cross-platform software (also called multi-platform software, platform-agnostic software, or platform-independent software) is computer software that is designed to work in several Computing platform, computing platforms. Some ...
core, tabbed browsing making it so that the serch bar only represented the selected tab, and a new integrated email client.


Version 5

Opera 5, released on December 6, 2000, was the first version which was ad-sponsored instead of having a trial period. Version 5 also supported
ICQ ICQ was a cross-platform instant messaging (IM) and VoIP client founded in June 1996 by Yair Goldfinger, Sefi Vigiser, Amnon Amir, Arik Vardi, and Arik's father, Yossi Vardi. The name ICQ derives from the English phrase "I Seek You". Originally ...
, but this was dropped from later versions. Opera supported
OS/2 OS/2 is a Proprietary software, proprietary computer operating system for x86 and PowerPC based personal computers. It was created and initially developed jointly by IBM and Microsoft, under the leadership of IBM software designer Ed Iacobucci, ...
for the first time, requiring WarpIN and
Odin Odin (; from ) is a widely revered god in Norse mythology and Germanic paganism. Most surviving information on Odin comes from Norse mythology, but he figures prominently in the recorded history of Northern Europe. This includes the Roman Em ...
to be installed. Opera 5.10 (April 2001) was the first version to recognize mouse gestures, but this feature was disabled by default.


Version 6

On November 29, 2001, Opera 6 was released with new features including
Unicode Unicode or ''The Unicode Standard'' or TUS is a character encoding standard maintained by the Unicode Consortium designed to support the use of text in all of the world's writing systems that can be digitized. Version 16.0 defines 154,998 Char ...
support, and offering a
single document interface A multiple-document interface (MDI) is a graphical user interface in which multiple windows reside under a single parent window. Such systems often allow child windows to embed other windows inside them as well, creating complex nested hierarchies ...
as well as the
multiple document interface A multiple-document interface (MDI) is a graphical user interface in which multiple windows reside under a single parent window. Such systems often allow child windows to embed other windows inside them as well, creating complex Hierarchy#Nested hi ...
allowed by previous versions.


First MSN.com controversy

On October 24, 2001,
Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company, technology conglomerate headquartered in Redmond, Washington. Founded in 1975, the company became influential in the History of personal computers#The ear ...
blocked users of browsers other than Internet Explorer, including Opera, from accessing
MSN MSN is a web portal and related collection of Internet services and apps provided by Microsoft. The main webpage provides news, weather, sports, finance and other content curated from hundreds of different sources that Microsoft has partnere ...
.com. After accusations of monopolistic behavior, Microsoft lifted the restrictions two days later. However, as late as November 2001, Opera users were still locked out from some MSN.com content, despite Opera's ability to display the content had it been served.


Presto versions


Version 7

On January 28, 2003, Opera 7 was released, introducing the new " Presto" layout engine, with improved CSS,
client-side scripting A dynamic web page is a web page constructed at runtime (during software execution), as opposed to a ''static web page'', delivered as it is stored. A server-side dynamic web page is a web page whose construction is controlled by an application ...
, and
Document Object Model The Document Object Model (DOM) is a cros s-platform and language-independent API that treats an HTML or XML document as a tree structure wherein each node is an object representing a part of the document. The DOM represents a document with ...
(DOM) support.
Mac OS 9 Mac OS 9 is the ninth and final major release of the classic Mac OS operating system for Macintosh computers, made by Apple Computer. Introduced on October 23, 1999, it was promoted by Apple as "The Best Internet Operating System Ever", highlight ...
support was dropped. Version 7.0 saw Opera undergo an extensive rewrite with the faster and more powerful
Presto layout engine Presto was the browser engine of the Opera web browser from the release of Opera 7 on 28 January 2003, until the release of Opera 15 on 2 July 2013, at which time Opera switched to using the Blink engine that was originally created for Chromium. ...
. The new engine brought almost full support for the HTML DOM meaning that parts of, or a whole, page can be re-rendered in response to DOM and script events. A 2004 review in ''
The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...
'' described Opera 7.5 as being excessively complex and difficult to use. The review also criticized the free edition's use of obtrusive advertisements when other browsers such as
Mozilla Mozilla is a free software community founded in 1998 by members of Netscape. The Mozilla community uses, develops, publishes and supports Mozilla products, thereby promoting free software and open standards. The community is supported institution ...
and
Safari A safari (; originally ) is an overland journey to observe wildlife, wild animals, especially in East Africa. The so-called big five game, "Big Five" game animals of Africa – lion, African leopard, leopard, rhinoceros, African elephant, elep ...
were offered free of charge without including advertisements. In August 2004, Opera 7.6 began limited alpha testing. It had more advanced standards support, and introduced voice support for Opera, as well as support for Voice XML. Opera also announced a new browser for Interactive Television, which included a ''fit to width'' option Opera 8 introduced. Fit to Width is a technology that initially utilized the power of CSS, but it is now internal Opera technology. Pages are dynamically resized by making images and/or text smaller, and even removing images with specific dimensions to make it fit on any screen width, improving the experience on smaller screens dramatically. Opera 7.6 was never officially released as a final version. On January 12, 2005, Opera Software announced that it would offer free licenses to higher education institutions, a change from the previous cost of $1,000 USD for unlimited licenses. Schools that opted for the free license included
Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a Private university, private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1861, MIT has played a significant role in the development of many areas of moder ...
(MIT),
Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...
,
University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...
,
Georgia Institute of Technology The Georgia Institute of Technology (commonly referred to as Georgia Tech, GT, and simply Tech or the Institute) is a public university, public research university and Institute of technology (United States), institute of technology in Atlanta, ...
, and
Duke University Duke University is a Private university, private research university in Durham, North Carolina, United States. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity, North Carolina, Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1 ...
. Opera was commonly criticized for having been ad-sponsored, since this was seen as a barrier to gaining market share. In the newer versions the user was allowed a choice of generic graphical banners, or text-based targeted advertisements provided by Google based upon the page being viewed. Users could pay a license fee to remove the advertisement bar.


Second MSN.com controversy

In 2003, MSN.com was configured to present Opera browsers with a style sheet used for old versions of Microsoft
Internet Explorer Internet Explorer (formerly Microsoft Internet Explorer and Windows Internet Explorer, commonly abbreviated as IE or MSIE) is a deprecation, retired series of graphical user interface, graphical web browsers developed by Microsoft that were u ...
. Other browsers received either a style sheet tailored to them, or at least the latest Internet Explorer style sheet. The outdated style sheet that Opera received caused Opera to move a significant amount of MSN.com's content 30
pixel In digital imaging, a pixel (abbreviated px), pel, or picture element is the smallest addressable element in a Raster graphics, raster image, or the smallest addressable element in a dot matrix display device. In most digital display devices, p ...
s to the left of where it should be, distorting the page and making it appear as though there was a bug in Opera. In response, the
Opera Software Opera (formerly Opera Software AS) is a Norwegian multinational technology corporation headquartered in Oslo, Norway with additional offices in European Union, Europe, China, and Africa. Opera offers a range of products and services that inclu ...
company created a special " Bork" edition of Opera which displayed gibberish instead of MSN.com but not on any other web site. They said they did this to make a point about the necessity of a harmonious relationship between web browsers and web sites. After the complaints, Microsoft changed their servers to present the latest version of Opera, version 7, with the style sheet served to the latest version of Internet Explorer, which resolved the problem. However, Microsoft continued to serve the outdated style sheet to the older Opera 6.


Hotmail controversy

In November 2004,
Opera Software Opera (formerly Opera Software AS) is a Norwegian multinational technology corporation headquartered in Oslo, Norway with additional offices in European Union, Europe, China, and Africa. Opera offers a range of products and services that inclu ...
sent an electronic message to
Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company, technology conglomerate headquartered in Redmond, Washington. Founded in 1975, the company became influential in the History of personal computers#The ear ...
, complaining that Opera users were sent an incomplete
JavaScript JavaScript (), often abbreviated as JS, is a programming language and core technology of the World Wide Web, alongside HTML and CSS. Ninety-nine percent of websites use JavaScript on the client side for webpage behavior. Web browsers have ...
file when using
Hotmail Outlook.com, formerly Hotmail, is a free personal email service offered by Microsoft. It also provides a webmail interface accessible via web browser or mobile apps featuring mail, Calendaring software, calendaring, Address book, contacts, and ...
(now Outlook.com). The incomplete file prevented Opera users from emptying their "Junk E-mail" folders. The Opera Software company later sent a physical letter to Microsoft. Nevertheless, as of February 11, 2005, Microsoft had neither replied to the messages nor corrected the issue.


Version 8

On April 19, 2005, version 8.0 was released. Besides supporting SVG Tiny, multimodal features and User JavaScript, the default user interface was cleaned up and simplified. The default home page was an improved search portal. The changes displeased a number of existing users since some advanced settings became hidden. Version 8.0 introduced support for
Scalable Vector Graphics Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) is an XML-based vector graphics format for defining two-dimensional graphics, having support for interactivity and animation. The SVG specification is an open standard developed by the World Wide Web Consortium sin ...
(SVG) 1.1 Tiny. This marked the first major web browser to natively support some form of SVG. Version 8.5 was released on September 20, 2005. Opera announced that their browser would be available free of charge and without advertisements, although the company still continued to sell support contracts. Enhancements included automatic client-side fixing of web sites that did not render correctly, and a number of security fixes.


Version 9

Version 9.0 was the first Microsoft Windows, Linux, and BSD browser to pass the
Acid2 Acid2 is a webpage that tests web browsers' functionality in displaying aspects of HTML markup, CSS 2.1 styling, Portable Network Graphics, PNG images, and data URIs. The test page was released on 13 April 2005 by the Web Standards Project. The ...
test. This version, released on June 20, 2006, added XSLT and improved SVG to 1.1 Basic level. This was the first version to be on the
Wii The Wii ( ) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Nintendo. It was released on November 19, 2006, in North America, and in December 2006 for most other regions of the world. It is Nintendo's fifth major home game console, f ...
. Beta versions of Opera 9 included an Easter egg (media), Easter egg that, when triggered, affects the Acid2 test. After the page has been open for a while, the eyes of the smiley will follow the cursor around and when the user clicks on the eyes, a
JavaScript JavaScript (), often abbreviated as JS, is a programming language and core technology of the World Wide Web, alongside HTML and CSS. Ninety-nine percent of websites use JavaScript on the client side for webpage behavior. Web browsers have ...
alert will read "Because just passing is not enough ;)". The changes to the Acid2 code were applied using Opera's browser.js feature, and remain available in a separate User JavaScript file. Opera introduced Web widget, Widgets, small web applications, a built-in BitTorrent (protocol), BitTorrent client, improved content blocking and a built-in tool for creating and editing search engines. Opera also added ability to read MHTML and to save the web page as archives. Version 9.1 (released in 2006) introduced fraud protection using technology from GeoTrust, a Public key certificate, digital certificate provider, and PhishTank, an organization that tracks known phishing web sites. Version 9.2, codenamed ''Merlin'', introduced Speed Dial, 3 × 3 small thumbnails which are shown instead of a blank page. Version 9.5, codenamed ''Kestrel'' (after the Kestrel falcon), was released to span the gap between Opera 9.2 and Opera 10. It included some of the rendering improvements due to be made in Opera 10 and also aimed to provide better integration with various operating systems. The first Software release life cycle, alpha build of Opera 9.5 was released on September 4, 2007. The first public Software release life cycle, beta was released on October 25, 2007, and the final version was released on June 12, 2008. The final release was downloaded more than 4.5 million times in the first 5 days. Opera 9.5 has improved support for Cascading Style Sheets (CSS), including many more CSS3 selectors and the CSS2 text-shadow property. Support for other web standards was also improved. For example, Opera 9.5's
Scalable Vector Graphics Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) is an XML-based vector graphics format for defining two-dimensional graphics, having support for interactivity and animation. The SVG specification is an open standard developed by the World Wide Web Consortium sin ...
(SVG) implementation supports 93.8% of the
W3C The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) is the main international standards organization for the World Wide Web. Founded in 1994 by Tim Berners-Lee, the consortium is made up of member organizations that maintain full-time staff working together in ...
's SVG test suite, and built-in support for APNG, Animated Portable Network Graphics (APNG) and MathML. Opera 9.5 also supports high-security Extended Validation Certificates and added malware protection through partnership with Haute Secure. The interface underwent a few alterations as well, using "Sharp" by default, a new Skin (computing), skin designed to be more intuitive, though the classic skin was still available as a user preference. Screen reader support has been added back in. Opera's mail client, Opera Mail, has been updated, with an improved Index (database), indexing feature and many bugfixes. Opera 9.5 also lets users save bookmarks, notes, the Personal Bar and Speed Dial settings to the Opera Link service. These preferences can then be Data synchronization, synchronized with another Opera browser, such as a copy of Opera Mini running on a mobile phone. Alongside the new features, Opera 9.5 had new performance improvements. For example, x86-64, x64-bit editions of Opera for compatible Linux and Berkeley Software Distribution, BSD operating systems. On the other hand, SPARC Linux support has been dropped. Version 9.6 improved Opera Link with the new opportunity to sync custom search engines and typed history. Web feed, Feed preview and an updated Opera Mail client were additional changes.


Version 10

Version 10 (Peregrine) debuted in a first beta version on June 3, 2009 and scored 100/100 on the Acid3 test, but failed the smoothness criteria. There was also a preview build that scored 100/100, released on March 28, 2009. Among other features, it also came with speed optimizations, inline spell checking for forms, an auto update feature, HTML mail formatting, web fonts and SVG font support, alpha transparency support using the RGBA and HSLA color models, and an updated version of the Opera Dragonfly web debugger. Opera Turbo, a mode which uses Opera's servers as proxy servers with data compression, reducing volume of data transferred by up to 80% (depending upon content), and thus increasing speed, was introduced. Opera 10 was officially released on September 1, 2009. Within a week of release, 10 million downloads had been recorded. The 10.5x versions (codenamed Evenes) also came with a new
JavaScript JavaScript (), often abbreviated as JS, is a programming language and core technology of the World Wide Web, alongside HTML and CSS. Ninety-nine percent of websites use JavaScript on the client side for webpage behavior. Web browsers have ...
engine, Carakan, and a new graphics backend dubbed Vega (replacing the previously used Qt), that have increased its speed measurably. Then Opera 10#Opera 10`, version 10.60, which Opera Software claims to be 50% faster than Opera 10.50, which also brought up new features like Geolocation, WebM support, AVG Technologies, AVG malware protection, Speed Dial improvements, etc. Opera 10.63 is the last version to support Windows 9x and Windows NT 4.0, as later releases would require at least Windows 2000.


Version 11

Opera 11 (codenamed Kjevik) was released on December 16, 2010 with new features including Software extension, extensions, tab stacking, visual mouse gestures, new installer (Windows only) and safety improvements to the address field. In addition, the content blocker list now can be synchronized through Opera Link. It also passes the Acid3 Test as of January 22, 2011. On April 12, 2011, Opera 11.10 (codenamed Barracuda) was released. It contains many fixes "under the hood", such as improved Turbo Mode, a plug-in installation wizard and a rewritten Speed Dial. Opera 11.10 was updated to use the new Presto 2.8 Rendering Engine. On May 18, 2011, the final version of Opera 11.11 was released with improvements to security. On June 28, 2011, Opera 11.50 (codename Swordfish) was released. Equipped with the rendering engine Presto 2.9.168 featuring up to 20% faster rendering of CSS and SVG, support for HTML5 tag , Session History and Navigation, it also features extensions in the Speed Dial, support for password sync in Opera Link and an updated UI. On December 6, 2011, Opera 11.60 (codename Tunny) was released. Updated with the newest rendering engine Presto 2.10.229, this update features several changes including a UI revamp of the email interface, a new address field with star feature, and several "under the hood" as new HTML5 tags and parsing implementations, full ECMAScript 5.1 support. This version also implemented the JSON API geo-location of Google. On January 24, 2012, Opera 11.61 was released with improvements to security and stability. On March 27, 2012, Opera 11.62 was released with security and stability improvements, bug fixes and performance improvements. On April 17, 2012, Opera 11.63 was released. It was a Mac-exclusive release, contrary to belief that Apple had prematurely flipped the switch, making this release available for Mac users ahead of Windows and Linux customers. On May 10, 2012, Opera 11.64 was released, with stability, bug fixes and security improvements.


Version 12

Opera released version 12 Pre-Alpha Build 1017 on June 7, 2011. Its code name was Wahoo. Opera 12 has hardware acceleration, support for WebGL and the new Opera Reader-feature. On October 13, 2011, a version 12 Alpha build 1105 was released. Includes several speed and memory improvements, themes implementation, full hardware acceleration with WebGL, full ECMAScript 5.1 compliance, and a new HTML5 parser named Ragnarök. On June 7, 2012, the RC1 version of Opera build 1448 was released. It offers native 64-bit support and out-of-process plug-ins. On June 14, 2012, the final version of Opera 12.00 was released. Opera 12.01, with some minor yet important security and stability upgrades, was released on August 2, 2012. Opera 12.02 was released on August 30, 2012. It is the last version to support Windows 2000, but the succeeding versions would need at least Windows XP and Windows Server 2003. On November 5, 2012, Opera 12.10 was released with improvements, bugfixes and security updates. On November 20, 2012, Opera 12.11 was released. This release was mainly a stability and security improvement over the previous version. On December 17, 2012, Opera 12.12 was released. This release is a recommended security and stability update over the previous version. It is the last version to work on Windows XP, XP RTM & SP1, and Windows Server 2003, Server 2003 RTM. The succeeding versions would need at least Windows XP, Windows XP SP2+, and Windows Server 2003, Server 2003 SP1. On January 30, 2013, Opera 12.13 was released as a recommended stability and security update. A week later, on February 5, 2013, Opera 12.14 was released after the users discovered an autoupdate crash loop bug. On April 4, 2013, Opera 12.15 was released. This release is a recommended security and stability update over the previous version. On July 4, 2013, Opera 12.16 was released. This release is a recommended security and stability update over the previous version. On April 23, 2014, Opera 12.17 was released as a platform-specific security update for Windows to fix the Heartbleed bug in the installer and autoupdater of Opera. The browser itself is not threatened by Heartbleed. On February 16, 2016, Opera 12.18 was released for the Windows platform. It adds support for Elliptic curve cryptography, elliptic curve cryptography (ECC) as well as Galois/Counter Mode, Galois/Counter Mode (GCM) for encrypted connections to enable Opera 12 to connect to servers that don't allow other encryption modes anymore. In addition a security issue in the mail client was fixed.


Blink versions


Opera 2013

On February 12, 2013, Opera Software announced their intention to transition from their Presto layout engine to
WebKit WebKit is a browser engine primarily used in Apple's Safari web browser, as well as all web browsers on iOS and iPadOS. WebKit is also used by the PlayStation consoles starting with the PS3, the Tizen mobile operating systems, the Amazon K ...
, building upon the base of the Chromium (web browser), Chromium project. Opera will become a contributor to the Chromium project. After Google announced its transition of the Chrome/Chromium browser from WebKit to
Blink Blinking is a bodily function; it is a semi-autonomic rapid closing of the eyelid. A single blink is determined by the forceful closing of the eyelid or inactivation of the levator palpebrae superioris and the activation of the palpebral por ...
, Opera confirmed it would also switch to Blink instead of WebKit. The version identifier 13 was skipped, thought to be related to triskaidekaphobia, superstition, while 14 was used to refer to a
WebKit WebKit is a browser engine primarily used in Apple's Safari web browser, as well as all web browsers on iOS and iPadOS. WebKit is also used by the PlayStation consoles starting with the PS3, the Tizen mobile operating systems, the Amazon K ...
-based release of Opera for Android. On May 28, 2013, a beta version of Opera 15 based on Blink was made available for Windows and Mac computers. It removed many distinctive Opera features, including some ubiquitous features like bookmarks (with an expanded Speed Dial intended to replace this feature). The features confirmed to be restored in the near future were synchronization, theme support, geolocation, and a "feature rich" tab bar. The previously-bundled M2 email client was released as a standalone application, Opera Mail. Extensions for the previous browser versions are no longer supported; instead developers are provided with facilities for converting old extensions to Google Chrome, Chrome extensions, supported in Opera 15. On July 2, 2013, the final version of Opera 15.0 was released. This release was not pushed through the automatic update system, as it was deemed some features important to current users had yet to be implemented. On July 19, 2013, Opera 16 entered the Next stream. This build included the return of W3C Geolocation API, geolocation support and automatic form filling, and added a ''flags'' page allowing experimental features to be enabled. On August 27, 2013, Opera 16 was released. On August 8, 2013, Opera 17 entered the Developer stream, reintroducing Mouse chording, rocker gestures, tab pinning, start-up options, and search engine management. On September 6, 2013, Opera 17 transitioned from the Developer stream to the Next stream in anticipation of its impending release. On October 8, 2013, Opera 17 was released. On September 11, 2013, Opera 18 entered the Developer stream, with initial features including tab management, theme support and engine updates. On November 19, 2013, Opera 18 was released. On October 24, 2013, Opera 19 entered the Developer stream. The final release was released on January 28, 2014, with features including the new bookmarks bar, extended theme support and an additional level of settings for hardcore users.


Opera 2014

Opera 20 was released on March 4, 2014, based on Chromium 33. Speed dial entries were made resizeable and support was added for dragging tabs to the bookmarks bar. This was the last version for processors without SSE2 instructions. Stash screenshots were also improved. Opera 21 was released on May 6, 2014, based on Chromium 34, and using Chromium's Aura UI framework. A broken padlock is now shown when sites present invalid security certificates and an option to display the full URL in the address bar was added. Opera 22 was released on June 3, 2014, based on Chromium 35. Support for high DPI displays was improved and the default theme was changed. Opera 23 was released on July 22, 2014, based on Chromium 36. A ''heart menu'' was added to the address bar, allowing the current page to be added to Speed Dial, Stash, or the bookmarks bar. An option to load insecure content on secure sites was also added. Opera 24 was released on September 2, 2014, based on Chromium 37. This release introduced tab previews, which are displayed when tabs are hovered. It also included several improvements specific to Windows: the frame of private windows was darkened and support for high DPI displays was improved again. Opera 25 was released on October 15, 2014, based on Chromium 38. This release introduced a visual bookmark manager and the inclusion of a built-in PDF viewer. Support for pop-up notification, desktop notifications was added. This was the last release to support OS X Snow Leopard, with later releases requiring OS X Lion or later. Opera 26 was released on December 3, 2014, based on Chromium 39. This is the first new stable version on Linux since 12.16, released on July 4, 2013. This version introduced the ability to import data from other browsers, including bookmarks and passwords. It also features the ability to share selected bookmarks via a URL, and integrated a print preview. Bing was removed from the default search engine list, and can thus no longer be set as the default. This release also transitioned the Mac version of Opera to the 64-bit architecture.


Opera 2015

Opera 27 was released on January 27, 2015, based on Chromium 40. A tab menu was added on the right of the tab bar, which displays all opened tabs in a list. Hovering the cursor over a name in the list and it shows a preview of the selected tab. Reorganised the navigation on the start page. Includes additional bug-fixes for the Google Native Client#Pepper, PPAPI plugin support and the bookmark manager. Opera 28 was released on March 10, 2015, based on Chromium 41. Starting with this version, bookmarks can be synchronized between Opera on the desktop, Opera Mobile on Android and Opera Mini on Android and iOS. Support for batch operation was added to the bookmark manager and bookmark suggestions now appear when typing in the address bar. Opera 29 was released on April 28, 2015, based on Chromium 42. Among the features added in this release were an improved start page look, an improved history manager, the sync of open tabs, sync and manage Speed Dial start pages, an audio indicator on the tab bar, custom keyboard shortcuts and more mouse gestures. Opera 30 was released on June 9, 2015, based on Chromium 43. Opera 31 was released on August 4, 2015, based on Chromium 44. Opera 32 was released on September 15, 2015, based on Chromium 45. When a website using Silverlight is accessed, it gives a message that the Microsoft Silverlight plugin will soon no longer be supported. Opera 33 was released on October 27, 2015, based on Chromium 46. Microsoft Silverlight and NPAPI still work and the message from Opera 32 is no longer displayed. Opera 34 was released on December 8, 2015, based on Chromium 47.


Opera 2016

Opera 35 was released on February 2, 2016, based on Chromium 48. Opera 36 was released on March 15, 2016, and was based on Chromium 49. It is the last version to support Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, Windows Vista, and Windows Server 2008. The succeeding versions would need at least Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2. Opera 37 was released on May 4, 2016, based on Chromium 50. It was the last version that would run under OS X Lion and OS X Mountain Lion. The succeeding versions would need at least OS X Mavericks. Opera 38 was released on June 8, 2016, based on Chromium 51. Free unlimited VPN service from Opera was added. Opera 39 was released on August 2, 2016, based on Chromium 52. Opera 40 was released on September 20, 2016, based on Chromium 53. Opera 41 was released on October 25, 2016, based on Chromium 54. Opera 42 was released on December 13, 2016, based on Chromium 55.


Opera 2017

Opera 43 was released on February 7, 2017, based on Chromium 56. Opera 44 was released on March 22, 2017, based on Chromium 57. Opera 45 was released on May 10, 2017, based on Chromium 58, and comes with a slightly overhauled user interface and an integrated messenger sidebar supporting Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, and Telegram (messaging service), Telegram It was the last version that would run under Linux, Linux 32-bit, with later versions requiring Linux, Linux 64-bit. Opera 46 was released on June 22, 2017, based on Chromium 59. It includes support for APNG, a feature which was lost upon switching the layout engine in 2013. Opera 47 was released on August 9, 2017, based on Chromium 60. Opera 48 was released on September 27, 2017, based on Chromium 61. Opera 49 was released on November 8, 2017, based on Chromium 62. It was the last version that would run under OS X Mavericks. The succeeding versions would need at least OS X Yosemite. It includes support for VR.


Opera 2018

Opera 50 was released on January 4, 2018, based on Chromium 63. It introduces anti-Bitcoin mining tool. Opera 51 was released on February 7, 2018, based on Chromium 64. Opera 52 was released on March 22, 2018, based on Chromium 65. Opera 53 was released on May 10, 2018, based on Chromium 66. Opera 54 was released on June 28, 2018, based on Chromium 67. Opera 55 was released on August 16, 2018, based on Chromium 68. Opera 56 was released on September 25, 2018, based on Chromium 69. Opera 57 was released on November 28, 2018, based on Chromium 70.


Opera 2019

Opera 58 was released on January 23, 2019, based on Chromium 71. Opera 60 was released on April 9, 2019, based on Chromium 73. Opera 59, based on Chromium 72 was skipped. Opera 62 was released on June 27, 2019, based on Chromium 75. Opera 61, based on Chromium 74 was skipped. Opera 63 was released on August 20, 2019, based on Chromium 76. It was the last version that would run under OS X Yosemite, with later versions requiring OS X El Capitan or later. Opera 64 was released on October 8, 2019, based on Chromium 77. Opera 65 was released on November 14, 2019, based on Chromium 78.


Opera 2020

Opera 66 was released on January 8, 2020, based on Chromium 79. Opera 67 was released on February 25, 2020, based on Chromium 80. Opera 68 was released on April 22, 2020, based on Chromium 81. Opera 69 was released on June 24, 2020, based on Chromium 83. Opera 70 was released on July 28, 2020, based on Chromium 84. Opera 71 was released on September 15, 2020, based on Chromium 85. Opera 72 was released on October 21, 2020, based on Chromium 86. Opera 73 was released on December 9, 2020, based on Chromium 87.


Opera 2021

Opera 74 was released on February 2, 2021, based on Chromium 88. Opera 75 was released on March 24, 2021, based on Chromium 89. Opera 76 was released on April 28, 2021, based on Chromium 90. Opera 77 was released on June 24, 2021, based on Chromium 91. This version introduced many major features. Opera 78 was released on August 3, 2021, based on Chromium 92. Opera 79 was released on September 14, 2021, based on Chromium 93. Opera 80 was released on October 5, 2021, based on Chromium 94. Opera 81 was released on November 4, 2021, based on Chromium 95. Opera 82 was released on December 2, 2021, based on Chromium 96.


Opera 2022

Opera 83 was released on January 19, 2022, based on Chromium 97. Opera 84 was released on February 16, 2022, based on Chromium 98. Opera 85 was released on March 23, 2022, based on Chromium 99. Opera 86 was released on April 20, 2022, based on Chromium 100. Opera 87 was released on May 17, 2022, based on Chromium 101. Opera 88 was released on June 8, 2022, based on Chromium 102. Opera 89 was released on July 7, 2022, based on Chromium 103. It was last version that would run under OS X El Capitan and macOS Sierra, with later versions requiring macOS High Sierra or later. Opera 90 was released on August 18, 2022, based on Chromium 104. Opera 91 was released on September 14, 2022, based on Chromium 105. Opera 92 was released on October 19, 2022, based on Chromium 106. Opera 93 was released on November 17, 2022, based on Chromium 107. Opera 94 was released on December 15, 2022, based on Chromium 108.


Opera 2023

Opera 95 was released on February 1, 2023, based on Chromium 109. It is the last version to support Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 8.1, Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Server 2012 and Windows Server 2012 R2. The succeeding versions would need at least Windows 10, and Windows Server 2016. Opera 96 was released on February 22, 2023, based on Chromium 110. Opera 97 was released on March 22, 2023, based on Chromium 111, introduces ChatGPT. Opera 98 was released on April 20, 2023, based on Chromium 112. Opera 99 was released on May 16, 2023, based on Chromium 113. Opera 100 was released on June 20, 2023, based on Chromium 114. It includes major browser changes codenamed "Opera One". Aria is introduced also in this version as native-browser AI. Opera 101 was released on July 26, 2023, based on Chromium 115. Opera 102 was released on August 23, 2023, based on Chromium 116. It was last version that would run under macOS High Sierra and macOS Mojave, with later versions requiring macOS Catalina or later. Opera 103 was released on October 3, 2023, based on Chromium 117. Opera 104 was released on October 23, 2023, based on Chromium 118. Opera 105 was released on November 14, 2023, based on Chromium 119. Opera 106 was released on December 19, 2023, based on Chromium 120.


Opera 2024

Opera 107 was released on February 7, 2024, based on Chromium 121. Opera 108 was released on March 5, 2024, based on Chromium 122. Opera 109 was released on March 27, 2024, based on Chromium 123. Opera 110 was released on May 14, 2024, based on Chromium 124. Opera 111 was released on June 12, 2024, based on Chromium 125. This release has added support for ARM64 architecture. Opera 112 was released on July 11, 2024, based on Chromium 126. Opera 113 was released on August 22, 2024, based on Chromium 127. Opera 114 was released on September 25, 2024, based on Chromium 128. It was last version that would run under macOS Catalina, with later versions requiring macOS Big Sur or later. Opera 115 was released on November 27, 2024, based on Chromium 130. Chromium 129 was skipped.


Opera 2025

Opera 116 was released on January 8, 2025, based on Chromium 131. Opera 117 was released on February 13, 2025, based on Chromium 132.


Timeline of releases


Release compatibility

Notes * Windows 10 is only for IA-32 and x64, not for ARM64 and ARMv7. * Only x86-64 builds of Opera for Mac are available at this time. ARM64 builds should soon be available as the Apple transition to ARM processors continues. Sources:


Discontinued versions for devices


Opera Mobile Classic

Opera Mobile Classic, formerly called Opera Mobile, is an edition of Opera designed for smartphones and personal digital assistants (PDAs). The first version of Opera Mobile Classic was released in 2000 for the Psion Series 7 and Psion Netbook, NetBook, with a port to the Windows Mobile platform coming in 2004. One of Opera Mobile Classic's major features is the ability to dynamically reformat web pages to better fit the handheld's display using small screen rendering technology. Alternatively, the user may use page zooming for a closer or broader look. However, Opera Mobile's user interface has come under fire for being difficult to use or customize. Opera Mobile Classic was replaced by Opera browser for Android.


Internet Channel for Wii

Internet Channel is a web browser for Nintendo's
Wii The Wii ( ) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Nintendo. It was released on November 19, 2006, in North America, and in December 2006 for most other regions of the world. It is Nintendo's fifth major home game console, f ...
gaming console made by Opera Software and Nintendo. Internet Channel was free to download from its release on 12 April 2007 until 30 June 2007. After that date, Wii users had to pay 500 Wii Points to download it. However, in late August / early September of the year 2009, the Internet Channel was once again available to download for free and those who paid for the service had their Wii Points returned in the form of a free NES Virtual Console game. Scott Hedrick, an executive of the Opera Software company, explained that the Wii browser was designed to suit a "living room environment". In contrast to Opera's appearance on computer monitors, fonts are larger and the interface is simplified for easier use. Notwithstanding the changes in design, the Wii browser supports the same web standards as the desktop version of Opera 9, including passing the
Acid2 Acid2 is a webpage that tests web browsers' functionality in displaying aspects of HTML markup, CSS 2.1 styling, Portable Network Graphics, PNG images, and data URIs. The test page was released on 13 April 2005 by the Web Standards Project. The ...
test.


Nintendo DS Browser

Nintendo DS Browser is an edition of Opera for the Nintendo DS handheld gaming system. The Nintendo DS Browser was released in Japan on 24 July 2006, in Europe on 6 October 2006, and in North America on 4 June 2007. The Nintendo DS Browser includes the same small screen rendering and page zooming technology present in Opera Mobile. It also includes handwriting recognition software and an on-screen keyboard to enable user input. Additionally, Nintendo partnered with Astaro Internet Security to provide web filtering for the Nintendo DS Browser. The technology is simply a professionally maintained proxy server that blocks web sites related to pornography, discrimination, Hacker (computer security), security hacking, software piracy, violence, gambling, illegal drugs, alcohol, tobacco, Dating (activity), dating, weapons, abortion, and other content that Nintendo deems objectionable. Users can configure the Nintendo DS Browser to receive web pages through this proxy server, and this setting can be password-protected (by a parent, for example) to prevent circumvention. In August 2007, the Nintendo DS Browser was quietly discontinued in North America.


References


External links


Opera archive

Opera custom download

Opera version history

evolt.org – Browser Archive

Opera Resources
{{DEFAULTSORT:History Of The Opera Web Browser Opera Software History of web browsers, Opera Software version histories, Opera