# Chromium vs Chrome: what is the difference? > Chromium is the open-source browser project; Chrome is Google's build of it, with codecs, keys and components Chromium lacks. A page can tell them apart. Source: https://mosaicbrowser.com/glossary/chromium-vs-chrome ## Chromium vs Chrome: same source, different browser Chromium is the open-source browser project, and Google Chrome is Google's branded build of that same source, with extra codecs, Google API keys and components that only branded builds ship. The engine underneath is the same, but a page can still read the difference. ![Chromium vs Chrome: 199 voices against 180, drawn as a mosaic of tiles](https://mosaicbrowser.com/covers/chromium-vs-chrome.webp) Chromium is the code; Chrome is one company's build of it. Google develops Chromium in the open, then compiles it with a few things that only Google ships, puts its logo on it and calls that Google Chrome. Edge, Brave, Opera and Vivaldi are other companies' builds of the same source. ## Chromium vs Chrome: what Google adds Chromium's own documentation lists the differences, written for Linux packages ([Chromium docs](https://chromium.googlesource.com/chromium/src/+/main/docs/chromium_browser_vs_google_chrome.md), read 2 November 2026). Chrome carries the H.264 video codec and the AAC audio codec; Chromium carries AV1, VP8, VP9, MP3, Opus and the other open formats. Chrome reports crashes and usage metrics only if you turn them on, and Chromium never does. Chrome has Google's API keys built in, and its releases are tested by Google before they reach users. In a Chromium package from a Linux distribution, the keys, the sandbox and the testing all depend on whoever packaged it. For browsing, the two are close enough that most people would never notice. For fingerprinting, the list above is incomplete, because it describes what a user sees and not what a page can read. Mosaic is a desktop app Email yourself the link and open it on your computer. [How it works: Its own Chromium](https://mosaicbrowser.com/features/engine) ## What a page can read We build our own Chromium, so we have measured this against the machine's own Google Chrome, on one Mac, same major version. Three differences stood out, and none of them is on the official list. The speech voice list is the largest. `speechSynthesis.getVoices()` returns 199 voices on branded Chrome and 180 on any unbranded build. The missing 19 are the `Google …` network voices, supplied by a component that is compiled in only when the build is Chrome-branded. One call reads the whole list, so a browser whose User-Agent says Chrome and whose voice list says Chromium has identified itself. The second is field trials. An unbranded Chromium compiles a testing configuration into the binary and runs it at every launch, so it switches on experiments no Google Chrome has. Against Chrome 153 that was 20 differences in which web APIs exist: no `navigator.runAdAuction`, no `Document.browsingTopics`, no `window.XSLTProcessor`, and `window.ModelContext` present where Chrome does not have it. An API a page finds on one browser and not the other is not a weak signal. The third is DRM. Widevine keeps a device's client ID private only for a browser carrying Google's signatures. Without them, the first licence request carries a per-install device certificate in the clear: 1704 bytes where branded Chrome sends 2. That certificate is the same for every profile on the machine, which makes it a join key between accounts. ![Mosaic settings showing the installed Tesseract Chrome engine and its version](https://mosaicbrowser.com/shots/engine.png) *Tesseract Chrome, installed under Settings › Engine* ## Why it matters for a browser fingerprint A detector does not ask "is this Chrome?" once. It reads the User-Agent and client hints, which claim Chrome, then reads surfaces like the three above, which answer for themselves. When the claim and the answers disagree, the [browser fingerprint](https://mosaicbrowser.com/glossary/browser-fingerprint) is inconsistent, and inconsistency is a louder signal than rarity. The same check runs one layer lower, on the TLS handshake ([TLS fingerprinting](https://mosaicbrowser.com/glossary/tls-fingerprinting) covers that layer, where Chromium and Chrome turn out identical). ## How Mosaic handles it Mosaic's engine, Tesseract Chrome, is built from stock Chromium source with our patch series on top, so by default it would be an unbranded Chromium with all three gaps. We close them one by one. A patch restores the 19 `Google …` voices where Chrome's own component would supply them. Every launch passes `--disable-field-trial-config`, which removed all 20 API differences in our measurement. Widevine is off unless a profile asks for it, because we cannot carry Google's signature and the certificate would link every profile together. Why we patch the source at all, rather than wrapping a stock browser, is the story in [why we built our own Chromium](https://mosaicbrowser.com/blog/why-we-built-our-own-chromium), and the engine page lists [what Tesseract Chrome changes](https://mosaicbrowser.com/features/engine). ## Sources 1. [Chromium docs: The difference between Google Chrome and Chromium on Linux](https://chromium.googlesource.com/chromium/src/+/main/docs/chromium_browser_vs_google_chrome.md), read November 2, 2026 ## Questions ### Is Chromium the same as Chrome? They share one codebase. Chrome is Google's build of Chromium with additions such as the H.264 and AAC codecs, Google API keys and components shipped only in branded builds, so the two behave the same on most pages and differ on a few readable details. ### Is Chromium more private than Chrome? Chromium's documentation says it never reports crashes or usage metrics, where Chrome does so only if you turn them on. On fingerprinting, Chromium is not more private: it differs from Chrome in ways a page can read, and far fewer people run it. ### Can a website tell Chromium from Chrome? Yes. The speech voice list, the set of web APIs that field trials switch on, and the DRM licence request all differ between a branded Chrome and an unbranded build of the same version, and each one is readable from a page. ### Do anti-detect browsers use Chromium or Chrome? The Chromium-based ones start from Chromium, because that is the source Google publishes. What matters is whether the build closes the gaps between unbranded Chromium and the Chrome it claims to be. ## Related [An anti-detect browser with its own Chromium engine](https://mosaicbrowser.com/features/engine): Mosaic is an anti-detect browser with its own Chromium engine, Tesseract Chrome: stock source plus 64 patches that change fingerprint values in C++. [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. [Browser fingerprint: what a site can read about your machine](https://mosaicbrowser.com/glossary/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. [Client hints fingerprinting: what Sec-CH-UA headers give away](https://mosaicbrowser.com/glossary/client-hints-fingerprinting): Client hints fingerprinting reads the Sec-CH-UA headers and navigator.userAgentData, then checks them against the User-Agent and the rest of the browser. [TLS fingerprinting: identifying a client by its handshake](https://mosaicbrowser.com/glossary/tls-fingerprinting): TLS fingerprinting identifies the software behind a connection from its TLS ClientHello, read before any page loads. JA3 and JA4 are the common formats.    ## See chromium vs Chrome 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.