# What is a browser fingerprint? > A browser fingerprint is the set of values a site reads about your browser and computer, which together recognize you without cookies. What goes into one. Source: https://mosaicbrowser.com/glossary/browser-fingerprint ## Browser fingerprint: what a site can read about your machine A browser fingerprint is the combination of values a website can read about your browser and computer, such as GPU, screen, fonts, timezone and language, which together are usually distinctive enough to recognize the same machine again without cookies. ![Browser fingerprint, drawn as a mosaic of tiles](https://mosaicbrowser.com/covers/browser-fingerprint.webp) A page does not need cookies to recognize a returning browser. It can ask the browser about itself: dozens of small questions with ordinary answers, which add up to something close to unique. ## What goes into one The values fall into a few groups. - **Hardware**: the GPU vendor and renderer strings, WebGL and WebGPU parameters, CPU thread count, the memory figure, screen size, pixel ratio, color depth and the number of touch points. - **Rendering**: how this machine draws a canvas, measures a line of text and processes an audio signal. Small differences in GPU, drivers and fonts give small differences in output. [Canvas fingerprinting](https://mosaicbrowser.com/glossary/canvas-fingerprinting) covers the best-known one. - **Software**: the User-Agent and client hints, installed fonts, the speech voice list, media device counts, which browser APIs exist. - **Place and person**: timezone, language list, and preferences like dark mode or reduced motion. - **Network**: the IP address and what it says about location, and WebRTC addresses if the browser leaks them. Mosaic is a desktop app Email yourself the link and open it on your computer. [How it works: Machines that exist](https://mosaicbrowser.com/features/real-fingerprints) ## How it links accounts Two accounts used from one computer report the same fingerprint, however carefully their cookies are separated. A site that sees the same fingerprint on two accounts treats them as related. The less common your values, the stronger that link. A setting only a few percent of people turn on makes every account on the machine unusual and identical at once. ## Changing it without contradicting yourself Random values per field produce fingerprints that are unique and impossible: a laptop GPU beside an ultrawide monitor, a Tokyo timezone on a Frankfurt IP. Detectors read contradictions as masking. Mosaic changes these values inside its own Chromium, in C++, so a page, an iframe and a worker all read the same answer. It draws the hardware as one real device from [machines that exist](https://mosaicbrowser.com/features/real-fingerprints), and takes timezone, language and location from the proxy's measured exit. [Why we built our own Chromium](https://mosaicbrowser.com/blog/why-we-built-our-own-chromium) explains why the engine is the place to do it. ## Questions ### Does clearing cookies change my fingerprint? No. Cookies are stored data; the fingerprint is read from your hardware and settings each visit. Clearing cookies, incognito mode and a VPN all leave it the same. ### Is a unique fingerprint bad? Unique is normal, since most real machines are. What gives a profile away is an impossible fingerprint, where values contradict each other, or one shared across accounts that should be unrelated. ### Can I see my own fingerprint? Yes. Public test pages such as CreepJS and the BrowserLeaks pages show many of the values a site can read. Mosaic's detection tests run a profile against a catalogue of such pages. ## Related [Canvas fingerprinting: how a drawing identifies your computer](https://mosaicbrowser.com/glossary/canvas-fingerprinting): Canvas fingerprinting draws hidden text and shapes, reads the pixels back and hashes them. Small rendering differences make the hash a mark of your machine. [Machines that exist: fingerprints drawn from real hardware](https://mosaicbrowser.com/features/real-fingerprints): Mosaic draws each profile's GPU, screen, CPU, memory and fonts from one real device, so the parts of a fingerprint agree with each other and with the host. [What is an anti-detect browser?](https://mosaicbrowser.com/guides/what-is-an-anti-detect-browser): An anti-detect browser gives each profile its own fingerprint, proxy and cookies, so sites see separate visitors. What it changes, how, and its limits. [Why we built our own Chromium instead of injecting JavaScript](https://mosaicbrowser.com/blog/why-we-built-our-own-chromium): Mosaic changes fingerprint values in C++ inside its own engine. Three measured differences between Chrome and plain Chromium explain why that matters. [Residential proxy: an exit on a home internet connection](https://mosaicbrowser.com/glossary/residential-proxy): A residential proxy sends your traffic out through an address an ISP assigned to a home connection, so sites see a household rather than a data center.    ## See browser fingerprint on a real profile Mosaic shows the values a site reads, per profile, and runs a leak test from inside the profile’s own page. Free holds 3 profiles. Pro is $49 a month for any number. Mosaic is a desktop app Email yourself the link and open it on your computer.