What is Chromium?

What is the difference between Chromium and Google Chrome browsers?

Photo by Panos Sakalakis on Unsplash

Chromium is an open-source browser that provides the framework for the much more popular and widely used Chrome browser. However, while the two browsers look and feel similar, they are actually quite different.

What Is The Difference Between Chromium and Chrome?

Chromium and Chrome are built on the same framework. Chromium is open-source, while Google Chrome is proprietary software. The main difference is the functionality that Google adds to Chrome, like the ability to login to your Google account at the browser level. Chromium is a relatively clean and lightweight browser, while Chrome includes a number of features like automatic updates and support for more video formats.

Chrome is More Feature-Rich

Automatic Updates: Chrome includes automatic updates so that you don’t have to worry about keeping your browser current. Chromium, on the other hand, relies on you to maintain the most recent version.

Chrome includes automatic updates so that you don’t have to worry about keeping your browser current. Chromium, on the other hand, relies on you to maintain the most recent version. Security Sandbox: The sandbox approach means isolating certain functions or applications (in a “sandbox”) to prevent them from harming your whole system. Google Chrome has a security sandbox to keep malicious sites from running scripts and other features that can compromise your security.

The sandbox approach means isolating certain functions or applications (in a “sandbox”) to prevent them from harming your whole system. Google Chrome has a security sandbox to keep malicious sites from running scripts and other features that can compromise your security. Crash and Error Reporting: Chrome has error reporting so that anytime your browser crashes or experiences errors, Google can determine what went wrong. Chromium never sends crash or error reports.

Chrome has error reporting so that anytime your browser crashes or experiences errors, Google can determine what went wrong. Chromium never sends crash or error reports. Extension Restrictions: While Chromium allows anyone to upload an extension to the browser, Chrome only allows extensions that are hosted in the Chrome Web Store. (Users can still upload extensions with Chrome using Developer Mode.)

While Chromium allows anyone to upload an extension to the browser, Chrome only allows extensions that are hosted in the Chrome Web Store. (Users can still upload extensions with Chrome using Developer Mode.) Adobe Flash (PPAPI): Chrome supports Flash by default, so you don’t have to go to any extra effort to view Flash videos in your browser. Chromium doesn’t come with support for Flash content, but you can still view it with an added Flash Player plug-in.

Chrome supports Flash by default, so you don’t have to go to any extra effort to view Flash videos in your browser. Chromium doesn’t come with support for Flash content, but you can still view it with an added Flash Player plug-in. Stable vs. Beta Versions: When you download Chrome, you get what’s called a “stable release”. The version you download has gone through beta testing and has been fixed whenever users found issues. With Chromium, you can download beta versions of the browser that include bugs and other issues. If you want to use Chromium, but want a more stable browser there are a number of other browsers built based on Chromium’s code (including Microsoft Edge, Brave, and Opera).

Chromium is Better For Privacy (Most of the time)

People who are concerned about their privacy may use Chromium to avoid Google’s embedded tracking features. If you want to keep your browsing more protected from Google’s reach, Chromium may be a good alternative to Google. However, if you continue to use Google’s other web-based products despite switching to Chromium, you may be handing over most of your browsing data to Google anyway.

Another exception to Chromium being superior is if you run a version of Chromium that has vulnerabilities or bugs because it hasn’t been tested and fixed yet. Chromium’s functionality normally remains intact, but it’s more vulnerable to having bugs that could compromise your data.

Is Chromium a Virus?

Chromium, if installed from a reliable source, is not a virus. In fact, Chromium is much safer than many of the most popular browsers. Chromium may get labeled as a virus by people who have installed it without understanding what they were downloading.

Read More: Removing Chromium from Windows — FLOSS Manuals