Chrome DLL`s files within Brave installation folder

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1

Hello,

I’m reaching out because I noticed something unusual with my Brave installation. My installation folder for the browser is located at C:\Program Files\BraveSoftware\Brave-Browser\Application, and inside this folder, I found several files that seem related to Chrome, such as:

  • chrome.VisualElementsManifest
  • chrome_proxy

Additionally, within the same installation folder, there’s a subfolder named C:\Program Files\BraveSoftware\Brave-Browser\Application\135.1.77.95, where I found files like:

  • Chrome.dll
  • Chrome_elf.dll
  • Chrome_wer.dll

The version of Brave I am using is Version 1.77.95, based on Chromium 135.0.7049.52 (official version, 64-bit).

I always thought that Brave was an independent browser, not related to Chrome in any way, but now I’m unsure because of these files. Is this normal? Does Brave actually use Chromium components, or is this an unexpected behavior?

Thank you in advance for your help!

Best regards,

2

@amaral.aca1976

All the following (and not an exhaustive list), are OK:

  • chrome_100_percent.pak
  • chrome_200_percent.pak
  • chrome_elf.dll
  • chrome_pwa_launcher.exe
  • chrome_wer.dll
  • chrome.dll
  • chrome.dll.sig
About Brave Browser Development (and Chromium)

About Chromium - somewhere online, a few years ago, I found:

“Intrinsically, Chromium is a Google project maintained by many authors (developers, engineers, graphic designers, security researchers … ) from Google, Adobe, Amazon, ARM, Brave, Cloudflare, Facebook, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Igalia, Intel, Logitech, Microsoft, Mozilla, Nvidia, Opera, Samsung, Vivaldi, Xiaomi, Yandex … and external contributors.”

Chromium is not only a web browser. It is a blend of different important open-source projects:

–

Deviations from Chromium (features Brave disables or removes)

Chromium source is fetched

Brave code is fetched

Hooks are run

What Chromium features are removed for privacy/security reasons?

Services & Features We Disable Entirely:

https://support.brave.com/hc/en-us/articles/29808985123085-Sensitive-data-storage

Advanced Privacy - A long list of Brave’s behind-the-scenes protections and commitments.

https://brave.com/privacy-features/

Brave’s advanced protections. Built right into the browser.

https://brave.com/privacy-features/#advanced-expanded-accordion

Brave’s policy, compliance, and research commitments.

https://brave.com/privacy-features/#policies-expanded-accordion

3

The funny thing was that, I went to a friend’s house and in the folder structure of Brave installed on his machine, it is different from my folder and file structure, where in my structure I even have a file of the Chromeproxy.dll and another thing is that when I open a new navigation window, the window opens as “new Chrome tab” and on other machines I’ve tested the same process doesn’t happen and also doesn’t have this Chromeproxy DLL. Can someone help me please… Or does anyone know how I can talk directly to the Brave people.

4

@amaral.aca1976

Does Brave actually use Chromium components?

Yes.

Brave Support: @Mattches