You may have heard Chromium, then two questions come: what is the difference between Chrome and Chromium? Which is better Chrome or Chromium? After reading this MiniTool’s post focusing on Chromium vs Chrome, you know the answers to these questions and just choose one to use based on your needs.
What Is Chrome?
Google Chrome is a cross-platform web browser developed and maintained by Google. It was first released for Microsoft Windows in 2008 and later Linux, macOS, iOS, and Android also support the browser.
Anyone can download and use it for free. But the code can’t be decompiled or used to build other projects or reverse engineered.
Chrome is based on Chromium. That is, developers can use the open-source Chromium source code and add their own code. So Chrome has some proprietary features, for example, automatic updates, browsing data, and support for Flash.
What Is Chromium?
Chromium is another web browser. Besides, it is also a free and open-source software project. The source code can be compiled to a web browser. For example, Google uses the code to make its browser – Chrome that has more features than Chromium, including Chrome updates automatically, tracks browsing data and offers support for Flash.
Other than Chrome, many other browsers like Microsoft Edge and Opera are also based on the Chromium code.
Chromium VS Chrome: What’s Difference?
What is the difference between Chrome and Chromium? Now, see the following form to learn some information.
Chrome | Chromium | |
Features | Offers more features such as updates automatically, provides support for Adobe Flash and media codecs, and tracks browsing data | Doesn’t offer any of these features |
Privacy | Automatically collects and transfers information (crash reports, device system, usage statistics, etc.) to Google | Collects and transfers less information and cannot transfer usage statistics & crash reports |
Stability | More stable | Easy to crash |
Security | Automatically update security patches | Users need to manually download and install security patches |
License support | Offers support for media formats like AAC, H.264, and MP3; support for codecs including Opus, Vorbis, VP8, VP9, Theora, and WAV; offers access to more media content (sites using HTML 5 video to stream H.264 videos) | Only offers support for Opus, Vorbis, VP8, VP9, Theora, and WAV |
Chrome VS Chromium: Which One to Use?
From the above contents, you know Chrome is more stable and easier to use and has more features than Chromium. Chromium is free and open-source and anyone can modify the source code but it cannot automatically update, track browsing data, and doesn’t offer Flash support.
Then, you ask: which is better Chrome or Chromium?
Chrome and Chromium are similar and each one has benefits, so it is not easy to say which is better. For regular users, Chrome is a good choice. If you are advanced users and pay high attention to privacy and coding, use Chromium.
Bottom Line
Chromium vs Chrome: what’s the difference between these two web browsers? This post is helpful for you and you can know much information. Just choose a proper browser based on your needs to use.