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A web browser, often shortened to browser, is an application for accessing . When a user requests a web page from a particular website, the browser retrieves its Computer file from a web server and then displays the page on the user's screen. Browsers can also display content stored locally on the user's device.
Browsers are used on a range of devices, including desktop computer, , tablet computer, , and consoles. As of 2024, the most used browsers worldwide are Google Chrome (~66% market share), Safari (~16%), Microsoft Edge (~6%), Firefox (~3%), Samsung Internet (~2%), and Opera (~2%). As of 2023, an estimated 5.4 billion people had used a browser.
Web pages usually contain to other pages and resources. Each link contains a URL, and when it is clicked or touchscreen, the browser navigates to the new resource. Most browsers use an internal web 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. (2018). 9781450364386, Association for Computing Machinery. ISBN 9781450364386
A web browser is not the same thing as a search engine, though the two are often confused. A search engine is a website that provides hyperlink to other websites and allows users to search for specific resources using a textual Web query. However, web browsers are often used to access search engines, and most modern browsers allow users to access a default search engine directly by typing a query into the address bar.
Microsoft debuted Internet Explorer in 1995, leading to a browser war with Netscape. Within a few years, Microsoft gained a dominant position in the browser market for two reasons: it bundled Internet Explorer with its popular Windows operating system and did so as freeware with no restrictions on usage. The market share of Internet Explorer peaked at over 95% in the early 2000s. In 1998, Netscape launched what would become the Mozilla Foundation to create a new browser using the open-source software model. This work evolved into the Firefox browser, first released by Mozilla in 2004. Firefox's market share peaked at 32% in 2010. Apple released its Safari browser in 2003; it remains the dominant browser on Apple devices, though it did not become popular elsewhere.
Google debuted its Google Chrome browser in 2008, which steadily took market share from Internet Explorer and became the most popular browser in 2012. Chrome has remained dominant ever since. In 2015, Microsoft replaced Internet Explorer with Edge Legacy for the Windows 10 release. In 2020, this legacy version was replaced by a new Chromium-based version of Microsoft Edge.
Since the early 2000s, browsers have greatly expanded their HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and multimedia capabilities. One reason has been to enable more sophisticated websites, such as Web application. Another factor is the significant increase of broadband connectivity in many parts of the world, enabling people to access data-intensive content, such as Streaming media HD video on YouTube, that was not possible during the era of dial-up modems.
Starting in the mid-2020s, browsers with integrated artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities, known as , have become increasingly common. This includes both new entrants to the browser market and established browsers that added AI features, such as Chrome with the Gemini chatbot and Edge with the Copilot chatbot.
Common user interface (UI) features:
While have similar UI features as desktop computer versions, the limitations of the often-smaller touchscreen require mobile UIs to be simpler. The difference is significant for users accustomed to keyboard shortcuts. Responsive web design is used to create websites that offer a consistent experience across the desktop and mobile versions of the website and across varying screen sizes. The most popular desktop browsers also have sophisticated web development tools.
Access to some web content — particularly streaming media like Netflix, Disney+, and Spotify — is restricted by Digital Rights Management (DRM) software. A web browser is able to access DRM-restricted content through the use of a Content Decryption Module (CDM) such as Widevine. As of 2020, the CDMs used by dominant web browsers require browser providers to pay costly license fees, making it unfeasible for most independent open-source browsers to offer access to DRM-restricted content.
The other two browsers in the top four are made from different . Safari, based on Apple's WebKit code, is the second most popular web browser and is dominant on Apple devices, resulting in an 18% global share. Firefox, in fourth place, with about 3% market share, 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.
The following table details the top web browsers by market share, as of February, 2025:
| Chrome | ~66% | |
| Safari | ~16% | |
| Edge | ~6% | |
| Firefox | ~3% | |
| Samsung Internet | ~2% | |
| Opera | ~2% | |
| Brave | ~1% | |
| Yandex Browser | less than 1% | |
| UC Browser | less than 1% | |
| Huawei Browser | less than 1% | |
| DuckDuckGo Private Browser | less than 1% | |
| QQ Browser | less than 1% | |
| Mi Browser | less than 1% | |
| Naver Whale | less than 1% | |
| Aloha Browser | less than 1% | |
| Avast Secure Browser | less than 1% | |
| Vivaldi | less than 1% | |
| AVG Secure Browser | less than 1% | |
| others | less than 1% |
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