Web browser: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 19:10, 21 March 2025

Revision as of 22:39, 21 March 2025

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[[File:Safari 15.png|thumb|right|A web browser ([[Safari (web browser)|Safari]]) displaying a [[web page]]]]

A '''web browser''', (often shortened to '''browser''' and also called an '''[[HTTP]] client''',<ref>{{Cite web |last=Steelman |first=Liz |date=2024-07-28 |title=What Is a Web Browser? Web Browser Definition |url=https://www.wix.com/encyclopedia/definition/web-browser |access-date=2025-03-21 |website=wix-encyclopedia |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=HTTP |url=https://paws.wcu.edu/holliday/cware/Web/HTTP.html |access-date=2025-03-21 |website=paws.wcu.edu}}</ref>) is an [[Application software|application]] for accessing [[website]]s. When a [[User (computing)|user]] requests a [[web page]] from a particular website, the browser retrieves its [[Computer file|files]] from a [[web server]] or their local [[filesystem]] and then displays the page on the user's screen. In addition to websites, browsers are also used for opening local [[HTML]] files as well as [[Computer network|network]] configuration pages and [[localhost]]. Browsers are used on a range of devices, including [[desktop computer|desktops]], [[laptop]]s, [[tablet computer|tablets]], and [[smartphone]]s; the [[Usage share of web browsers|most-used]] browser currently worldwide is [[Google Chrome]], followed by [[Safari (web browser)|Safari]].<ref name="statcounter">{{cite web |title=Browser Market Share Worldwide |url=https://gs.statcounter.com/browser-market-share |access-date=3 October 2024 |publisher=[[StatCounter]]}}</ref>

As of 20242025, the most used browsers worldwide are: [[Google Chrome]] (6766% [[market share]]), [[Safari (18%web sharebrowser), [[Firefox|Safari]] (18%), [[Microsoft Edge|Edge]], [[Opera (web browser5%)|Opera]], [[Samsung InternetFirefox]], [[UC Browser]](3%), [[YandexSamsung Browser|YandexInternet]], [[Brave (web browser2%)|Brave]], and [[VivaldiOpera (web browser)|VivaldiOpera]] (2%).<ref name="statcounter" /><ref>{{cite web|last=|first= |title=TheBrowser 10Market mostShare popularWorldwide browsers in the world|website=blivale.com|publisher=Blivale Ltd.|date=April 25, 2024|url=https://wwwgs.blivalestatcounter.com/en/blog/335-the-10-mostbrowser-popularmarket-browsers-in-the-worldshare |access-date=21 March 1, 2025 |publisher=[[StatCounter]]}}</ref> As of 20202023, an estimated 45.94 billion people had used a browser.<ref>{{Cite web |title=World Internet Users Statistics and 20192023 World Population Stats |url=https://www.internetworldstats.com/stats.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240523140912/https://www.internetworldstats.com/stats.htm|access-date=1121 NovemberMarch 20192025 |website=www.internetworldstats.com|archive-date=23 May 2024|url-status=dead}}</ref>

A web browser is not the same thing as a [[search engine]], though the two are often confused.<ref>{{cite AV media |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o4MwTvtyrUQ |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211211/o4MwTvtyrUQ| archive-date=11 December 2021 |url-status=live|title=What is a Browser? |date=30 April 2009 |publisher=Google (on YouTube) |quote=Less than 8% of people who were interviewed on this day knew what a browser was.}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://blog.mozilla.org/en/internet-culture/mozilla-explains/internet-search-engine-browser/ |title=What is the difference between the internet, browsers, search engines and websites? |date=17 June 2021|publisher=Mozilla |quote=Let’s start by breaking down the differences between the internet, browsers, search engine, and websites. Lots of us get these four things confused with each other.}}</ref> A search engine is a website that provides [[hyperlink|links]] to other websites. However, to connect to a website's server and display its web pages, a user must have a web browser installed.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Manasa |first=D. |date=19 July 2011 |title=Difference Between Search Engine and Browser |url=https://www.differencebetween.net/technology/internet/difference-between-search-engine-and-browser/ |website=differencebetween.net}}</ref> In some technical contexts, browsers are referred to as [[user agent]]s.

As of 2024, the most used browsers worldwide are: Chrome (67% share), Safari (18% share), [[Firefox]], [[Microsoft Edge|Edge]], [[Opera (web browser)|Opera]], [[Samsung Internet]], [[UC Browser]], [[Yandex Browser|Yandex]], [[Brave (web browser)|Brave]] and [[Vivaldi (web browser)|Vivaldi]].<ref name="statcounter" /><ref>{{cite web|last=|first=|title=The 10 most popular browsers in the world|website=blivale.com|publisher=Blivale Ltd.|date=April 25, 2024|url=https://www.blivale.com/en/blog/335-the-10-most-popular-browsers-in-the-world|access-date=March 1, 2025}}</ref> As of 2020, an estimated 4.9 billion people had used a browser.<ref>{{Cite web |title=World Internet Users Statistics and 2019 World Population Stats |url=https://www.internetworldstats.com/stats.htm |access-date=11 November 2019 |website=www.internetworldstats.com}}</ref>

==Function==

[[File:Web browser demo.webm|thumb|Navigating to [[English Wikipedia]] using a web browser ([[Firefox]])]]

The purpose of a web browser is to fetch content and [[browser engine|display]] it on the user's device.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.reference.com/humanities-culture/purpose-browser-e61874e41999ede|title=What Is the Purpose of a Web Browser?|date=4 August 2015}}</ref> This process begins when the user inputs a [[Uniform Resource Locator]] (URL), such as ''<code><nowiki>https://en.wikipedia.org/</nowiki></code>'', into the browser. Virtually all URLs on [[World Wide Web|the Web]] start with either ''<code>http:</code>'' or ''<code>https:</code>'' which means they are retrieved with the [[HTTP|Hypertext Transfer Protocol]] (HTTP). For [[HTTPS|secure mode]] (HTTPS), the connection between the browser and [[web server]] is [[encryption|encrypted]], providing a [[communications security|secure]] and [[information privacy|private]] data transfer.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.techtarget.com/whatis/definition/HTTP-Hypertext-Transfer-Protocol|title=What is HTTP and how does it work? Hypertext Transfer Protocol Definition|website=WhatIs.com}}</ref> For this reason, a web browser is often referred to as an HTTP client<ref>{{Cite web |last=Steelman |first=Liz |date=2024-07-28 |title=What Is a Web Browser? Web Browser Definition |url=https://www.wix.com/encyclopedia/definition/web-browser |access-date=2025-03-21 |website=wix-encyclopedia |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=HTTP |url=https://paws.wcu.edu/holliday/cware/Web/HTTP.html |access-date=2025-03-21 |website=paws.wcu.edu}}</ref> or a [[user agent]]. Browsers can also be used to open files such as [[HTML]] files from the local filesystem (often called [[localhost]]), or to visit [[Computer network|network]] configuration pages.

Web pages usually contain [[hyperlink]]s to other pages and resources. Each link contains a URL, and when it is [[point and click|clicked]] or [[touchscreen|tapped]], the browser navigates to the new resource. Most browsers use an internal [[web cache|cache]] of web page resources to improve loading times for subsequent visits to the same page. The cache can store many items, such as large images, so they do not need to be downloaded from the server again. Cached items are usually only stored for as long as the web server stipulates in its HTTP response messages.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Nguyen |first1=Hoai Viet |last2=Lo Iacono |first2=Luigi |last3=Federrath |first3=Hannes |chapter=Systematic Analysis of Web Browser Caches |date=2018-10-03 |title=Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on Web Studies |chapter-url=https://doi.org/10.1145/3240431.3240443 |series=WS.2 2018 |___location=New York, NY, USA |publisher=Association for Computing Machinery |pages=64–71 |doi=10.1145/3240431.3240443 |isbn=978-1-4503-6438-6}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Mishra |first1=Vikas |last2=Laperdrix |first2=Pierre |last3=Rudametkin |first3=Walter |last4=Rouvoy |first4=Romain |date=2021-04-01 |title=Déjà vu: Abusing Browser Cache Headers to Identify and Track Online Users |url=https://petsymposium.org/popets/2021/popets-2021-0033.php |journal=Proceedings on Privacy Enhancing Technologies |language=en |volume=2021 |issue=2 |pages=391–406 |doi=10.2478/popets-2021-0033 |issn=2299-0984|hdl=20.500.12210/57495 |hdl-access=free }}</ref>

A web browser is not the same thing as a [[search engine]], though the two are often confused.<ref>{{cite AV media |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o4MwTvtyrUQ |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211211/o4MwTvtyrUQ| archive-date=11 December 2021 |url-status=live|title=What is a Browser? |date=30 April 2009 |publisher=Google (on YouTube) |quote=Less than 8% of people who were interviewed on this day knew what a browser was.}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://blog.mozilla.org/en/internet-culture/mozilla-explains/internet-search-engine-browser/ |title=What is the difference between the internet, browsers, search engines and websites? |date=17 June 2021|publisher=Mozilla |quote=Let’s start by breaking down the differences between the internet, browsers, search engine, and websites. Lots of us get these four things confused with each other.}}</ref> A search engine is a website that provides [[hyperlink|links]] to other websites and allows users to search for specific resources using a textual query. However, toweb connectbrowsers are often used to aaccess website'ssearch serverengines, and displaymost itsmodern webbrowsers pages,allow users to access a userdefault mustsearch haveengine directly by typing a webquery browserinto installedthe [[address bar]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Manasa |first=D. |date=19 July 2011 |title=Difference Between Search Engine and Browser |url=https://www.differencebetween.net/technology/internet/difference-between-search-engine-and-browser/ |website=differencebetween.net}}</ref> In some technical contexts, browsers are referred to as [[user agent]]s.

===Privacy===

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{{See also|Usage share of web browsers}}

[[Google Chrome]] has been the dominant browser since the mid-2010s and currently has a 6766% global market share on all devices.<ref name="statcounter"/> The vast majority of its [[source code]] comes from Google's [[Open-source software|open-source]] [[Chromium (web browser)|Chromium]] project;<ref>{{cite web|url= https://blog.chromium.org/2008/09/welcome-to-chromium_02.html|title= Welcome to Chromium|author=((Google))|date=2 September 2008 |access-date=28 April 2021}}</ref> this code is also the basis for [[Chromium (web browser)#Browsers based on Chromium|many other]] browsers, including [[Microsoft Edge]], currently in third place with about a 5% share,<ref name="statcounter"/> as well as [[Samsung Internet]] and [[Opera (web browser)|Opera]] in fifth and sixth places respectively with over 2% market share each.<ref name="statcounter"/>

The other two browsers in the top four are made from different [[codebase]]s. [[Safari (web browser)|Safari]], based on [[Apple Inc.|Apple]]'s [[WebKit]] code, is the second most popular web browser and is dominant on Apple devices, resulting in an 18% global share.<ref name="statcounter"/> [[Firefox]], in fourth place, with about 3% market share,<ref name="statcounter"/> is based on [[Mozilla]]'s code. Both of these codebases are open-source, so a number of small niche browsers are also made from them.