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?

“based on Chromium”:

Does Brave actually use Chromium components?

Yes.

Brave Support: @Mattches

5

@amaral.aca1976 Brave runs on the Chromium engine, as do many other web browsers. So yes, while we are in fact independent, we do leverage the Chromium engine which is why some “Chrome” related elements may still appear from time to time.

That being said, it is a misconception that due to the fact that we’re using the Chromium engine, we are “working with” Google and/or are “just Chrome with a different skin”. Our team works extremely hard to ensure that any sort of tracking, telemetry or any sort of shadiness Google implements in their browser to track and store data about their users is completely gutted in Brave.

We have documentation available for anyone to view showing exactly what we strip, remove or proxy from the Chromium engine to ensure that our users are not being tracked in any way:

This article may also be reassuring for you:

Hope this helps

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