A lightweight web browser is a

web browser A web browser is application software for accessing websites. When a user requests a web page from a particular website, the browser retrieves its files from a web server and then displays the page on the user's screen. Browsers are used o ...

that sacrifices some of the features of a mainstream web browser in order to reduce the consumption of

system resource In computing, a system resource, or simple resource, is any physical or virtual component of limited availability within a computer system. All connected devices and internal system components are resources. Virtual system resources include f ...

s, and especially to minimize the

memory footprint Memory footprint refers to the amount of main memory that a program uses or references while running. The word footprint generally refers to the extent of physical dimensions that an object occupies, giving a sense of its size. In computing, the ...

. The tables below compare notable lightweight web browsers. Several of them use a common layout engine, but each has a unique combination of features and a potential niche. The minimal

user interface In the industrial design field of human–computer interaction, a user interface (UI) is the space where interactions between humans and machines occur. The goal of this interaction is to allow effective operation and control of the machine f ...

in surf, for example, does not have tabs, whereas

xombrero xombrero (until 2012 known as xxxterm) is a discontinued open-source web browser developed with a goal to be a lightweight and secure replacement for full featured browsers like Firefox. The browser has found a niche among minimalist browsers fo ...

can be driven with vi-like keyboard commands. Four of the browsers compared—

Lynx A lynx is a type of wild cat. Lynx may also refer to: Astronomy * Lynx (constellation) * Lynx (Chinese astronomy) * Lynx X-ray Observatory, a NASA-funded mission concept for a next-generation X-ray space observatory Places Canada * Lynx, ...

, w3m, Links, and

ELinks ELinks is a free text-based web browser for Unix-like operating systems. It began in late 2001 as an experimental fork by Petr Baudiš of the Links Web browser, hence the E in the name. Since then, the E has come to stand for Enhanced or Ex ...

—are designed for

text mode Text mode is a computer display mode in which content is internally represented on a computer screen in terms of characters rather than individual pixels. Typically, the screen consists of a uniform rectangular grid of ''character cells'', each ...

, and can function in a

terminal emulator A terminal emulator, or terminal application, is a computer program that emulates a video terminal within some other display architecture. Though typically synonymous with a shell or text terminal, the term ''terminal'' covers all remote term ...

. Eww is limited to working within Emacs. Links 2 has both a

text-based user interface In computing, text-based user interfaces (TUI) (alternately terminal user interfaces, to reflect a dependence upon the properties of computer terminals and not just text), is a retronym describing a type of user interface (UI) common as an ear ...

and a

graphical user interface The GUI ( "UI" by itself is still usually pronounced . or ), graphical user interface, is a form of user interface that allows users to interact with electronic devices through graphical icons and audio indicator such as primary notation, ins ...

. w3m is, in addition to being a web browser, also a

terminal pager A terminal pager, paging program or simply pager is a computer program used to view (but not modify) the contents of a text file moving down the file one line or one screen at a time. Some, but not all, pagers allow movement up a file. A popul ...

Overview

Operating system support

;Notes

Features

Test scores reflect the version of the browser engine in use. Generally, a lower score indicates an older version of the browser engine. ;Notes

Overview

Operating system support

Features

See also

References

Further reading