Chrome 55 now available: loads HTML5 over Flash by default, drastically reduces RAM usage

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Google over the past year or so has been slowly pushing Flash out the back door in favor of HTML5, a far superior technology that improves security, reduces power consumption and leads to faster load times. With Chrome 55 having just advanced to the stable channel for Windows, Mac and Linux, the transition is nearly complete.

Chrome 55, as explained by Google’s Anthony LaForge earlier this year, will default to a site’s HTML5 experience in most every instance when it has a choice. If a site only uses Flash, you’ll be prompted to allow it the first time you visit.

An exception to this rule only applies to the top 10 websites that use Flash (and only for a year). Those sites are: YouTube.com, Facebook.com, Yahoo.com, VK.com, Live.com, Yandex.ru, OK.ru, Twitch.tv, Amazon.com and Mail.ru.

Elsewhere, Chrome 55 is also said to drastically reduce RAM usage by as much as 50 percent thanks to an updated JavaScript V8 engine that reduces the memory zone and heap size. Google’s web browser is notoriously bad for its handling of memory so it’s great that they’re finally addressing the issue.

While on the subject, I’d also recommend checking out our recent Chrome optimization guide if you haven’t already done so. By grabbing Chrome 55 and tweaking a handful of settings, you’ll likely notice a substantial performance improvement.

In the event you’ve disabled automatic updates or aren’t currently using Chrome, you can grab version 55 for a variety of platforms right here. If you're looking for the change log, that's available on the Chrome release blog.