Mozilla today shipped Firefox 43, the first edition that lets users download a production-grade 64-bit version for Windows.

While Mozilla did not cite the 64-bit support with any fanfare, it was the biggest difference between Firefox 43 and its predecessors.

A preview of the 64-bit Firefox for Windows was issued more than nine months ago, when Mozilla’s usual schedule would have meant a May release.

The biggest advantage of a 64-bit browser on a 64-bit operating system — like Windows and Apple’s OS X — is that it can address more than the 4GB of memory available to a 32-bit application, letting users keep open hundreds of tabs, and run larger, more sophisticated Web apps, notably games.

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