Exposing the light weight browser version to several users, Mozilla released the beta version of Firefox 7.

The company said that the new version reduces the consumption by almost half because the memory used is much lower than the version from Firefox 4 to Firefox 6.

The reduction is the result of the two-month prior project known as MemShrink, which was developed to reduce the browser’s memory usage while addressing memory leakages. These bugs prohibit the memory from being released when the users close the tabs. Over an extended period, the bugs result in reduced browser performance. In some rare instances, the bugs may cause the browser to crash or lock up.

Nicholas Nethercote who is the company engineer responsible for managing MemShrink posted on a blog that the new version reduces the memory usage by 20% to 30% while reducing this to almost 50% in some cases.

He also mentioned that these changes in the memory usage makes the browser faster than the previous versions.

The release of the Firefox 7 beta commences the countdown towards the scheduled release date of Sept 27. The company releases new versions of its browser once in six weeks by including additional features to the new version instead of waiting on several new changes to accumulate.

Some of the other improved features of Firefox 7 include faster sync between passwords and bookmarks among the copies of the browser, more rapid rendering of HTML 5 canvas-based animation on Windows PC, and an optional feature providing Mozilla its performance data.

The next version will include additional memory bug fixation. Nethercote on Tuesday said that the Firefox 8 version would reduce the consumption on large web pages.

Mozilla officials on Thursday said the Firefox 8 version would be launched on the Aurora channel during the day. The final edition of this version is scheduled to be released on Nov 8.

Five months before the company moved to a quicker release cycle and multi version programs providing Aurora, beta and release editions. These are listed in their increasing order of polishing and stability enabling testing and evaluating.

Users can download the Firefox 7 from the company’s website. All users using the earlier beta versions like the Firefox 6, which was provided three days prior, will be automatically provided the version 7.