What is a web browser?

A web browser is a program on your computer that helps you to access the Internet. Some common web browsers include:

(This site mostly focuses on Chrome, because it’s the most common browser, and the one members of my family use the most.)

A web browser isn’t “the Internet”, it’s a tool you use to access the Internet. On the page What is a website?, I wrote:

When you view a simple website, such as this one, you’re really reading a file stored on a computer. Typically, these files are written in a language called HTML: Hypertext Markup Language. HTML is a language that describes the structure and content of a web page.

A web browser is a tool that knows how to interpret read HTML and display it in a user-friendly way.

Because you need a web browser to access the Internet and read web pages, it’s important to understand how to use your web browser. The most common web browser components you’ll interact with include: