As Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality is picking the pace and being infused as a mainstream entertainment choice, Opera Browser has come up with a VR centric feature. The Opera Developer 49 would for the first time support 360-degree videos in virtual reality headsets directly from the browser. The VR feature would work with compatible devices like HTC Vive and Oculus Rift.

The volume of VR content on the web is increasing exponentially, and it only makes sense to have a browser that will support the format natively. As of now, the limited software support has been playing a spoilsport when it comes to VR experience on platforms like YouTube, Facebook, and other video portals. The best workaround was to download the video and then quit the browser. Once the video has been downloaded one needs to play it in a separate video player app. However, not all videos come with a download button and this further magnified the problem. So with the new Opera feature, one can directly play the VR video from the browser to their Virtual Reality headset.

The Opera Developer 49 will come with an embedded VR 360 player, and it will automatically detect installed VR headset. Users can switch to VR Playback by toggling a button labeled “Watch in VR.” This option will appear automatically as and when a VR video is detected in the browser. Since it’s a 360-degree VR video the need for mouse and keyboard to control the video will be eliminated. Moreover, the new video playback will support standard 180-degree videos or movies in case you decide to go for a personal movie theatre experience.

The Developer build is Opera’s beta channel similar to the Canary on Chrome. It is quite obvious that the feature will make it to the final builds once it’s tested on the developer build. In all likelihood, the other browsers will soon start offering the native VR support to match steps with the Opera.