What is the difference between a Firefox extension and a Firefox add-on?

firefox firefox-addon
Crashalot picture Crashalot · Jan 11, 2010 · Viewed 13.3k times · Source

The terms "extension" and "add-on" seem interchangeable, but I have seen instances where people seem to mean different things with "extension" vs "add-on."

Clarity please?

Answer

neo picture neo · Jan 11, 2010

Add-ons are installable enhancements to the Mozilla Foundation's projects (and compatible variants such as Portable Firefox). Add-ons allow the user to add or augment application features, use themes to his or her liking, and handle new types of content.

Extensions can be used to modify the behavior of existing features to the application or add entirely new features. Extensions are especially popular with Firefox, because Mozilla developers intend for the browser to be a fairly minimalistic application in order to reduce software bloat and bugs, while retaining a high degree of extensibility, so that individual users can add the features that they prefer.

Reading Add-on (Mozilla) may help

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