A '''web browser''', often shortened to '''browser''', is an [[Application software|application]] for accessing [[web pages]] and [[web navigation|navigating the Internet]]. When a [[User (computing)|user]] visits a [[website]], the browser requests the web page from a [[web server]] and displays it. Browsers can also be used to access web pages [[hosts (file)|hosted]] on the local [[filesystem]] (often called [[localhost]]) or [[Computer network|network]] configuration pages.
Browsers are used on a range of devices, including [[desktop computer|desktops]], [[laptop]]s, [[tablet computer|tablets]], [[smartphone]]s and [[Video game console|consoles]]. As of 2024, the most used browsers worldwide are [[Google Chrome]] (65–66~66% [[market share]]), [[Safari (web browser)|Safari]] (15–17~16%), [[Microsoft Edge|Edge]] (5.2–6.~6%), [[Firefox]] (2.5–3.9~3%), [[Samsung Internet]] (~2.2–2.7%), and [[Opera (web browser)|Opera]] (1.5–2.1~2%).<ref name="statcounter">{{cite web |title=Browser Market Share Worldwide |url=https://gs.statcounter.com/browser-market-share |access-date=21 March 2025 |publisher=[[StatCounter]]}}</ref><ref name="cloudflare">{{cite web|last=|first=|title=Browser Market Share Report for 2024 Q1|website=cloudflare.com|publisher=Cloudflare, Inc.|date=May 3, 2024|url=https://radar.cloudflare.com/reports/browser-market-share-2024-q1|access-date=March 22, 2025}}</ref> As of 2023, an estimated 5.4 billion people had used a browser.<ref>{{Cite web |title=World Internet Users Statistics and 2023 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=21 March 2025 |website=www.internetworldstats.com|archive-date=23 May 2024|url-status=dead}}</ref>
