Google Chrome is the most used web browser worldwide. This browser is free for users, although it is closed source. However, Chrome is not a single browser and made from scratch, but this is based on an open source project, also developed by Google, that any user can download and use, especially if you want to stay away from Google and its collection of data. This is Chromium.
Chromium: the base of Google Chrome and much more
Chromium is not just an independent browser. This is the base, the Google browser engine , which is used in many other browsers, such as Chrome, Opera and even the new Microsoft Edge. Each developer can use Chromium without problems in their browser, and from that base give it the shape they want and add or remove features to improve its performance, security, privacy or usability. This engine is the base. The rest of the features depend on each developer.
This OpenSource project began its journey in 2008, and since then it has a very active development both by Google and by the large community behind it.
The advantages of using the Google engine instead
Microsoft had its own web engine. Mozilla has its own (also open source and used in Firefox), and Google has Chromium. What prevents other developers from creating their own engine? Actually, nothing. But if they do, they are destined to fail.
Adopting the Chromium engine saves a lot of work for any developer. We can automatically get a fully functional engine, compatible with all web standards, with excellent support and also modify it at our whim. And not only that, but by adopting this engine directly we are making our browser compatible with all Chrome extensions .
A browser without extensions is worth nothing. Encouraging developers to launch their own extensions in our browser (as Microsoft tried with Edge) is useless. If we want the browser to succeed, we must go through the hoop and use one of the two current engines: o Gecko, the Firefox engine, or Chromium.
Differences with Google Chrome
In general, the two web browsers may look the same. Both use the same engine, the same extensions, and even have Google behind. However, there are several details that make the difference.
The first thing is that Google always recommends downloading Chrome to your computers. And not only that, but it does not make things easy when downloading and updating Chromium. Chrome is the official Google browser, and unlike Chromium, it is closed source.
While Chrome exchanges a lot of information with Google, Chromium does not send user data to the company. No bug reports, no telemetry or anything. Of course, that “privacy” has a price, and is that the updates are not automatic as in Chrome; We must download them manually whenever we want.
One of Chromium’s weaknesses is that, being 100% OpenSource , it does not include some closed source components that the Google browser does. For example, some multimedia codecs or PPAPI plugins such as Flash Player. This browser also did not initially include a native PDF viewer like Chrome, since it was proprietary. Anyway, this was already solved a long time ago including its own open source PDF viewer.
Finally, both browsers synchronize our data with Google servers (if we want) to have a copy of our bookmarks, passwords and cloud settings.
How to download Chromium
Google easily leads us to download Chrome. It has no loss. Even if we don’t want it. Google’s browser is on all sites. However, with Chromium the thing is different. And this is one of the reasons why this browser has no more presence on the network.
There are several ways to download Chromium on our computer. If we choose the easy one, we just have to go to the next link and click on the button to download the browser. These compilations are updated from time to time and we can always download the latest for Windows, macOS or Linux.
Another option to download Chromium on our computer is to access the following link , where we will find all the snapshots (or compilations) of this browser. We will select our operating system, the build number and download the file “chrome-win.zip” (in the case of Windows) to install this browser. The download is the same as that of the previous point (it is downloaded even from the same server), but it is a more manual process for those who want everything under control.
Chromium should not be installed on the computer. Once the browser is downloaded, all we have to do is unzip the file “chrome-win.zip” in the directory we want and, inside it, we will execute the file “chrome.exe” with the icon in blue.
We already have Chromium open on our computer and ready to start browsing. As we can see, the interface is practically the same as that of Google Chrome, so we will not have any difficulty using it. In addition, in the ” Chromium Information ” section we can see the version and build that we have installed.
Unfortunately, unlike Chrome, this browser does not update itself. Another handicap to consider.
How to keep Chromium updated
Unfortunately, Chromium does not have a function that allows us to keep it always updated. And this is very important for browsers, since an obsolete browser can compromise our security and our entire PC. In addition, taking into account that the compilations are daily, each version corrects bugs that can cause us problems, although it can also add new bugs.
The classic way to update Chromium is by manually downloading the new versions from the links we have previously provided and unzipping the content inside the folder where we have the browser. As the profile is not saved in the main program folder, we will not be in danger of losing our data. Even if we change the folder, our profile will still be available.
Luckily, there is a tool called chrlauncher that allows us to keep our Chromium updated easily. Every time we open the program, check for new versions. If there are, download the last one and leave it ready on our computer. The browser will run automatically after each update.
Even if we have not previously downloaded Chromium, this program allows us to download the latest version. The easiest, fastest and easiest way to download the Google OpenSource browser and make sure you always have it updated.