What is the Difference Between Microsoft Silverlight 5 and Microsoft Silverlight 4?

Microsoft Silverlight 5 and Silverlight 4 are two versions of the Silverlight framework, with Silverlight 5 being the later version released in 2011 and Silverlight 4 released in 2010. Silverlight is a free web-browser plug-in that enables interactive media experiences, rich business applications, and immersive mobile apps. Some key differences between Silverlight 5 and Silverlight 4 include:

GPU Accelerated Video Decoding: Silverlight 5 supports GPU accelerated video decoding, which improves video quality and performance.
Built-in 3D Graphics Support: Silverlight 5 features built-in 3D graphics support, enabling developers to create more immersive and visually stunning applications.
Variable Speed Playback: Silverlight 5 allows for variable speed playback of media content with automatic audio pitch correction, providing a more versatile media experience.
Improved Power Awareness: Silverlight 5 has improved power awareness, which helps conserve battery life on devices.
Remote-control Support: Silverlight 5 includes built-in remote-control support, enhancing the user experience for controlling media playback.
Faster Application Startup: Silverlight 5 provides faster application startup, improving the overall performance of applications built using the framework.
64-bit Browser Support: Silverlight 5 offers support for 64-bit browsers, ensuring compatibility with the latest browser technologies.
Automated UI Testing Support: Silverlight 5 includes automated UI testing support for applications with Visual Studio 2010, making it easier for developers to test and debug their applications.
Text Clarity and Debugging Features: Silverlight 5 delivers improved text clarity and allows developers to debug data-binding expressions and set breakpoints on bindings.
Content Protection and DRM Support: Silverlight 5 provides content protection for H.264 and support for playing offline DRM-protected media.

In addition to these features, Silverlight 5 also includes several enhancements for out-of-browser (locally installed) applications, such as full keyboard access while running in full-screen mode, programmatic access to a user's local document folder, and support for local Component Object Model (COM) objects.

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What is the Difference Between Microsoft Silverlight 5 and Microsoft Silverlight 4?

Comparative Table: Microsoft Silverlight 5 vs Microsoft Silverlight 4

The following table highlights the differences between Microsoft Silverlight 5 and Microsoft Silverlight 4:

Feature	Silverlight 4	Silverlight 5
Release Date	April 15, 2010	December 9, 2011
New Features	Support for Google's Chrome browser, webcam and microphone, printing, more mouse support, new notification support, new and enhanced controls (e.g., RichTextBox, DataGrid), theming of controls, rendering HTML, better localization	GPU-accelerated video playback, more than 40 new features
Hardware Acceleration	Hardware acceleration is enabled in windowless mode with Internet Explorer 9	Not mentioned in the search results
Text Improvements	Not mentioned in the search results	Improvements to text that allow building rich magazine-style text layouts

While both Silverlight 4 and Silverlight 5 are used for creating Rich Interactive Applications (RIA), Silverlight 5 has introduced more than 40 new features compared to its predecessor. Some of the notable improvements in Silverlight 5 include GPU-accelerated video playback and enhancements to text layouts.

Guilherme Mazui

Guilherme Mazui is graduated in journalism from the Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG) and a master's degree in Communication from the University of São Paulo (USP). In addition, he has experience in advertising writing and has worked as a content editor in several companies.