What’s New in Raspberry Pi OS for Pi 5? Wayland, PipeWire, Faster Networking & Optimized Firefox

The new Raspberry Pi OS release, prepared for the upcoming Raspberry Pi 5, is based on Debian 12 “Bookworm” and brings a series of modernizations to the desktop environment.

Wayland becomes the default

Raspberry Pi Desktop now boots into the Wayland compositor (Wayfire) by default, dropping the legacy X11 system. Wayland offers superior performance on modern hardware, and the transition is supported by the Wayfire compositor to preserve a familiar user experience.

If you prefer the older X11/Openbox setup, you can re‑enable it via the raspi-config “Advanced Settings” menu.

Network performance improvements

Building on the existing NetworkManager, the update adds a new network panel plugin with an “Advanced Options” section, exposing more of NetworkManager’s capabilities and delivering noticeably faster network handling.

PipeWire replaces PulseAudio

All audio and video routing now uses PipeWire, providing lower latency, better Bluetooth audio management, and improved interoperability with Wayland. Users can still switch back to PulseAudio if needed.

Firefox optimized for Raspberry Pi

A Raspberry Pi‑specific build of Mozilla Firefox is included, featuring V4L2‑based hardware H.264 decoding for smoother HD video playback and integrated Widevine DRM for seamless streaming on major platforms.

Upgrade recommendations

Due to the extensive changes, developers recommend performing a fresh installation (re‑flashing the SD card). An in‑place upgrade is possible but carries additional risk. The OS can be downloaded from the official Raspberry Pi website.