The Chromium Embedded Framework (CEF) is an

open-source Open source is source code that is made freely available for possible modification and redistribution. Products include permission to use the source code, design documents, or content of the product. The open-source model is a decentralized sof ...

software framework In computer programming, a software framework is an abstraction in which software, providing generic functionality, can be selectively changed by additional user-written code, thus providing application-specific software. It provides a standard ...

for embedding a

Chromium Chromium is a chemical element with the symbol Cr and atomic number 24. It is the first element in group 6. It is a steely-grey, lustrous, hard, and brittle transition metal. Chromium metal is valued for its high corrosion resistance and hardne ...

web browser A web browser is application software for accessing websites. When a user requests a web page from a particular website, the browser retrieves its files from a web server and then displays the page on the user's screen. Browsers are used on ...

within another application. This enables developers to add web browsing functionality to their application, as well as the ability to use

HTML The HyperText Markup Language or HTML is the standard markup language for documents designed to be displayed in a web browser. It can be assisted by technologies such as Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) and scripting languages such as JavaScri ...

CSS Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) is a style sheet language used for describing the presentation of a document written in a markup language such as HTML or XML (including XML dialects such as SVG, MathML or XHTML). CSS is a cornerstone techno ...

, and

JavaScript JavaScript (), often abbreviated as JS, is a programming language that is one of the core technologies of the World Wide Web, alongside HTML and CSS. As of 2022, 98% of Website, websites use JavaScript on the Client (computing), client side ...

to create the application's

user interface In the industrial design field of human–computer interaction, a user interface (UI) is the space where interactions between humans and machines occur. The goal of this interaction is to allow effective operation and control of the machine f ...

(or just portions of it). CEF runs on

Linux Linux ( or ) is a family of open-source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991, by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged as a Linux distribution, which ...

macOS macOS (; previously OS X and originally Mac OS X) is a Unix operating system developed and marketed by Apple Inc. since 2001. It is the primary operating system for Apple's Mac computers. Within the market of desktop and lapt ...

, and

Windows Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for serv ...

. It has many

language binding In programming and software design, binding is an application programming interface (API) that provides glue code specifically made to allow a programming language to use a foreign library or operating system service (one that is not native to th ...

s including C,

C++ C++ (pronounced "C plus plus") is a high-level general-purpose programming language created by Danish computer scientist Bjarne Stroustrup as an extension of the C programming language, or "C with Classes". The language has expanded significan ...

, Go,

Java Java (; id, Jawa, ; jv, ꦗꦮ; su, ) is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea to the north. With a population of 151.6 million people, Java is the world's List ...

, and

Python Python may refer to: Snakes * Pythonidae, a family of nonvenomous snakes found in Africa, Asia, and Australia ** ''Python'' (genus), a genus of Pythonidae found in Africa and Asia * Python (mythology), a mythical serpent Computing * Python (pro ...

Overview

There are two versions of Chromium Embedded Framework: CEF 1 and CEF 3. Development of CEF 2 was abandoned after the appearance of the Chromium Content API. CEF 1 is a single-process implementation based on the Chromium WebKit API. It is no longer actively developed or supported. CEF 3 is a multi-process implementation based on the Chromium Content API and has performance similar to Google Chrome. It uses asynchronous messaging to communicate between the main application process and one or more render processes (

Blink Blinking is a bodily function; it is a semi-autonomic rapid closing of the eyelid. A single blink is determined by the forceful closing of the eyelid or inactivation of the levator palpebrae superioris and the activation of the palpebral portio ...

+ V8 JavaScript engine). It supports

PPAPI Google Native Client (NaCl) is a discontinued sandboxing technology for running either a subset of Intel x86, ARM, or MIPS native code, or a portable executable, in a sandbox. It allows safely running native code from a web browser, independen ...

plugins and extensions, both internal (PDF viewer) or externally loadable. The single-process run mode is not supported, but still present; currently is being used for debugging purposes only. On March 16, 2019, the CEF version numbering changed with the release of CEF 73.1.3+g46cf800+chromium-73.0.3683.75. The previous release on March 14, 2019 was CEF 3.3683.1920.g9f41a27. Both of these releases were based on Chromium 73.0.3683.75, however the new version numbering has the major number the same as the Chromium major version number it is based on. CEF comes with a sample application called CefClient that is written in

using

WinAPI The Windows API, informally WinAPI, is Microsoft's core set of application programming interfaces (APIs) available in the Microsoft Windows operating systems. The name Windows API collectively refers to several different platform implementations ...

Cocoa Cocoa may refer to: Chocolate * Chocolate * ''Theobroma cacao'', the cocoa tree * Cocoa bean, seed of ''Theobroma cacao'' * Chocolate liquor, or cocoa liquor, pure, liquid chocolate extracted from the cocoa bean, including both cocoa butter and ...

, or

GTK GTK (formerly GIMP ToolKit and GTK+) is a free and open-source cross-platform widget toolkit for creating graphical user interfaces (GUIs). It is licensed under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public License, allowing both free and propriet ...

(depending on the platform) and contains demos of various features. Newer versions include a sample application called CefSimple that, along with an accompanying tutorial, show how to create a simple application using CEF 3. Documentation can be found in the header files located in the "include" directory and on wiki pages.

Supported languages

The base CEF framework includes support for the C and C++ programming languages, but there are external projects that provide bindings for other languages: * Delphi (CEF1) – DCEF 1 * Delphi (CEF3) – DCEF 3 * Delphi (CEF3) – CEF4Delphi * Delphi (CEF3) – WebKitX CEF3 ActiveX * Dyalog APL (CEF3) – HTMLRenderer *

Free Pascal Free Pascal Compiler (FPC) is a compiler for the closely related programming-language dialects Pascal and Object Pascal. It is free software released under the GNU General Public License, witexception clausesthat allow static linking against it ...

(CEF3) - fpCEF3 * Go (CEF3) – CEF2go * Java (CEF3) – Java Chromium Embedded * .NET (CEF1, CEF3) – CefSharp * .NET (CEF1) – CefGlue * .NET/Mono (CEF3) – Xilium.CefGlue * .NET (CEF3) – ChromiumFX * .NET (CEF3) – WebKitX CEF3 ActiveX * Python (CEF1, CEF3) – CEF Python * Swift (CEF3) – CEF.swift * Visual Basic 6 (CEF3) – WebKitX CEF3 ActiveX * Visual FoxPro (CEF3) – WebKitX CEF3 ActiveX * PowerBuilder (CEF3) – WebKitX CEF3 ActiveX * Ruby (via the 'win32ole' library) (CEF3) – WebKitX CEF3 ActiveX * Visual Basic for Applications 2003/2007/2010/2015/2016 (VBA, Access, Excel) (CEF3) – WebKitX CEF3 ActiveX * Microsoft Visual Studio .NET 2010/2015/2017 (VB.Net, C#, C++, 32-bit and 64-bit) (CEF3) – WebKitX CEF3 ActiveX * Xojo (for Windows apps, 32-bit and 64-bit) (CEF3) – WebKitX CEF3 ActiveX * Qt (any Windows version, only for 32-bit) (CEF3) – WebKitX CEF3 ActiveX * CodeTyphon Studio -package pl_CEF * Embarcadero RAD Studio (VCL C++) (CEF3) - WebKitX CEF3 ActiveX * Broadcom CA PLEX (VBScript / C++) (CEF3) - WebKitX CEF3 ActiveX * YallFramework (YS /WS ) (FF213 - WevKitX CEF57 ActiveX)

Applications using CEF

* 4D – relational database management system and IDE *

Adobe Adobe ( ; ) is a building material made from earth and organic materials. is Spanish for ''mudbrick''. In some English-speaking regions of Spanish heritage, such as the Southwestern United States, the term is used to refer to any kind of e ...

Adobe Acrobat Adobe Acrobat is a family of application software and Web services developed by Adobe Inc. to view, create, manipulate, print and manage Portable Document Format (PDF) files. The family comprises Acrobat Reader (formerly Reader), Acrobat (forme ...

Adobe Illustrator Adobe Illustrator is a vector graphics editor and design program developed and marketed by Adobe Inc. Originally designed for the Apple Macintosh, development of Adobe Illustrator began in 1985. Along with Creative Cloud (Adobe's shift to month ...

–

vector graphics editor A vector graphics editor is a computer program that allows users to compose and edit vector graphics images interactively on a computer and save them in one of many popular vector graphics formats, such as EPS, PDF, WMF, SVG, or VML. Vector ...

Adobe Creative Cloud Adobe Creative Cloud is a set of applications and services from Adobe Inc. that gives subscribers access to a collection of software used for graphic design, video editing, web development, photography, along with a set of mobile applications a ...

Adobe Dreamweaver Adobe Dreamweaver is a proprietary web development tool from Adobe Inc. It was created by Macromedia in 1997 and developed by them until Macromedia was acquired by Adobe Systems in 2005. Adobe Dreamweaver is available for the macOS and Windows o ...

– web development tool which uses CEF to control resource loading, navigation and context menus Adobe Chromium Embedded **

Adobe Edge Animate Adobe Edge Animate, formerly known as just Adobe Edge, is a web development tool developed by Adobe Systems that uses HTML5, JavaScript, and CSS3 functionality. It later became part of the Adobe Edge suite, and was available as a free 30-day tr ...

– multimedia authoring tools ** Adobe Edge Reflow – web design tool **

Adobe Brackets Adobe ( ; ) is a building material made from earth and organic materials. is Spanish for '' mudbrick''. In some English-speaking regions of Spanish heritage, such as the Southwestern United States, the term is used to refer to any kind of ...

– previously closed-source IDE * AIM – instant messaging client that uses CEF on Windows * alt:V - multiplayer engine for PC game

Grand Theft Auto V ''Grand Theft Auto V'' is a 2013 action-adventure game developed by Rockstar North and published by Rockstar Games. It is the seventh main entry in the Grand Theft Auto, ''Grand Theft Auto'' series, following 2008's ''Grand Theft Auto IV'', and ...

* Amazon Music Player – official media player for

Amazon Music Amazon Music (previously Amazon MP3) is a music streaming platform and online music store operated by Amazon. Launched in public beta on September 25, 2007, in January 2008 it became the first music store to sell music without digital rights man ...

* AOL Desktop – web browser with integrated AOL email and IM clients *

Autodesk Inventor Autodesk Inventor is a computer-aided design application for 3D mechanical design, simulation, visualization, and documentation developed by Autodesk. Features Inventor allows 2D and 3D data integration in a single environment, creating a virt ...

– 3D design tool. Since version 2015, it uses CEF for the 'My Home' feature, a home-page that allows users to create new CAD files and view tutorials. * Battle.net App – official client for Battle.net *

BeamNG.drive ''BeamNG.drive'' is a vehicle simulation video game developed and published by Bremen-based video game developer BeamNG GmbH. The game features soft-body physics, which simulates realistic handling and damage to vehicles. The game was initial ...

– uses CEF to render UI * Bitdefender Safepay Browser – part of Bitdefender Internet Security software *

Brackets A bracket is either of two tall fore- or back-facing punctuation marks commonly used to isolate a segment of text or data from its surroundings. Typically deployed in symmetric pairs, an individual bracket may be identified as a 'left' or 'r ...

– open source code editor for the web * Desura client – official client for

Desura Desura was a digital distribution platform for the Microsoft Windows, Linux and OS X platforms. The service distributed games and related media online, with a primary focus on small independent game developers rather than larger companies. Desur ...

* Dish World IPTV – streaming video platform * Dyalog APL – Uses CEF for its user commands ]HTML, ]Plot, and ]APLCart * Epic Games Launcher – official client for

Epic Games Store The Epic Games Store is a digital video game storefront for Microsoft Windows and macOS, operated by Epic Games. It launched in December 2018 as both a website and a standalone launcher, of which the latter is required to download and play gam ...

* Eve Online launcher – official launcher for

Eve Online ''Eve Online'' (stylised ''EVE Online'') is a space-based, persistent world massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) developed and published by CCP Games. Players of ''Eve Online'' can participate in a number of in-game profess ...

ExpanDrive ExpanDrive is a network filesystem client for MacOS, Microsoft Windows and Linux that facilitates mapping of local volume to many different types of cloud storage. When a server is mounted with ExpanDrive any program can read, write, and manage r ...

– network file system client *

Facebook Messenger Messenger is a proprietary instant messaging app and platform developed by Meta Platforms. Originally developed as Facebook Chat in 2008, the company revamped its messaging service in 2010, released standalone iOS and Android apps in 2011, and ...

for Windows * Foxmail – freeware email client by

Tencent Tencent Holdings Ltd. () is a Chinese multinational technology and entertainment conglomerate and holding company headquartered in Shenzhen. It is one of the highest grossing multimedia companies in the world based on revenue. It is also the w ...

GOG Galaxy GOG.com (formerly Good Old Games) is a digital distribution platform for video games and films. It is operated by GOG sp. z o.o., a wholly owned subsidiary of CD Projekt based in Warsaw, Poland. GOG.com delivers DRM-free video games through it ...

– official client for

GOG.com GOG.com (formerly Good Old Games) is a digital distribution platform for video games and films. It is operated by GOG sp. z o.o., a wholly owned subsidiary of CD Projekt based in Warsaw, Poland. GOG.com delivers DRM-free video games through it ...

* Google Web Designer – create interactive HTML5 sites and ads *

Grand Theft Auto Online ''Grand Theft Auto Online'' is an online multiplayer action-adventure game developed by Rockstar North and published by Rockstar Games. It was released on 1 October 2013 for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, 18 November 2014 for PlayStation 4 and Xbo ...

– multiplayer engine for PC game

* Intel AppUp Encapsulator – Intel app store software *

KKBox KKBox, stylized as KKBOX is a music streaming service developed in 2005 by KKBox Inc., a software company in Taipei, Taiwan. It is a part of Japanese Telecom Group, KDDI. The service mainly targets the music markets of East and Southeast Asia, fo ...

– streaming music platform * League of Legends launcher – official launcher for

League of Legends ''League of Legends'' (''LoL''), commonly referred to as ''League'', is a 2009 multiplayer online battle arena video game developed and published by Riot Games. Inspired by ''Defense of the Ancients'', a Mod (video games), custom map for War ...

LiveCode LiveCode (formerly Revolution and MetaCard) is a cross-platform rapid application development runtime system inspired by HyperCard. It features the ''LiveCode Script'' (formerly MetaTalk) programming language which belongs to the family of xTalk ...

– multi-platform app development software *

Mailbird Mailbird is a desktop email client (email management application) for Windows 7, 8, 10, and 11 for sending and receiving emails, managing calendar events and contacts from different email providers, including Outlook, Gmail, Yahoo Mail, etc. ...

– Windows email software *

MATLAB MATLAB (an abbreviation of "MATrix LABoratory") is a proprietary multi-paradigm programming language and numeric computing environment developed by MathWorks. MATLAB allows matrix manipulations, plotting of functions and data, implementation ...

– Uses CEF for its uifigures * MediaMan – organizer software *

Microsoft Power BI Power BI is an interactive data visualization software product developed by Microsoft with a primary focus on business intelligence. It is part of the Microsoft Power Platform. Power BI is a collection of software services, apps, and connectors t ...

– Business Intelligence software * Minecraft Launcher – official launcher for

Minecraft ''Minecraft'' is a sandbox game developed by Mojang Studios. The game was created by Markus "Notch" Persson in the Java programming language. Following several early private testing versions, it was first made public in May 2009 before being ...

Multi Theft Auto ''Multi Theft Auto'' (''MTA'') is a Multiplayer video game, multiplayer mod (video gaming), modification for the Microsoft Windows version of Rockstar North games ''Grand Theft Auto III'', ''Grand Theft Auto: Vice City'' and ''Grand Theft Auto: ...

– multiplayer engine for PC game Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas *

OBS Studio OBS Studio (also Open Broadcaster Software or OBS, for short) is a free, open-source, and cross-platform screencasting and streaming app. It is available for Windows, macOS, Linux distributions, and BSD. The OBS Project raises funds on the ...

browser plugin - Live streaming software
PHP Desktop
– provide a way for developing native desktop GUI applications using web technologies such as PHP, HTML5, JavaScript and SQLite. *

PokerStars PokerStars is an online poker cardroom that was a part of The Stars Group until it was sold to Flutter Entertainment on May 5, 2020. It can be accessed through downloadable poker clients for the Windows, macOS, Android and iOS. It is the large ...

– online poker

cardroom A cardroom or card room is a gaming establishment that exclusively offers card games for play by the public. The term poker room is used to describe a dedicated room in casinos that is dedicated to playing poker and in function is similar to a car ...

QuarkXPress QuarkXPress is a desktop publishing software for creating and editing complex page layouts in a WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) environment. It runs on macOS and Windows. It was first released by Quark, Inc. in 1987 and is still owned and ...

– JavaScript support * RAGE Multiplayer - multiplayer engine for PC game

Rockstar Games Launcher Rockstar Games, Inc. is an American video game publisher based in New York City. The company was established in December 1998 as a subsidiary of Take-Two Interactive, using the assets Take-Two had previously acquired from BMG Interactive. Foun ...

– official client for

Social Club A social club may be a group of people or the place where they meet, generally formed around a common interest, occupation, or activity. Examples include: book discussion clubs, chess clubs, anime clubs, country clubs, charity work, criminal ...

Second Life ''Second Life'' is an online multimedia platform that allows people to create an avatar for themselves and then interact with other users and user created content within a multi player online virtual world. Developed and owned by the San Fra ...

– online virtual world *

Sling TV Sling TV is an American streaming television service operated by Sling TV LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Dish Network. Unveiled on January 5, 2015, at the Consumer Electronics Show, the virtual multichannel video programming distributor aims ...

– IPTV service operated by Dish Network. *

Spotify Spotify (; ) is a proprietary Swedish audio streaming and media services provider founded on 23 April 2006 by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon. It is one of the largest music streaming service providers, with over 456 million monthly active us ...

Desktop Client – streaming music platform * StarUML – UML model editor * Steam client – official client for

Steam Steam is a substance containing water in the gas phase, and sometimes also an aerosol of liquid water droplets, or air. This may occur due to evaporation or due to boiling, where heat is applied until water reaches the enthalpy of vaporization ...

Tencent QQ Tencent QQ (), also known as QQ, is an instant messaging software service and web portal developed by the Chinese technology company Tencent. QQ offers services that provide online social games, music, shopping, microblogging, movies, and group ...

– instant messaging program (its QPlus part) and web browser *

TouchDesigner TouchDesigner is a node based visual programming language for real time interactive multimedia content, developed by the Toronto-based company Derivative. It's been used by artists, programmers, creative coders, software designers, and performe ...

- creative development platform *

TOWeb TOWeb is a WYSIWYG website creation software for Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X that focuses on web publishing. The latest version 5 creates HTML5/CSS3 responsive websites compatible with any device. It has some limitations such as one can not op ...

– responsive website creation software *

Trend Micro Internet Security Trend Micro Internet Security (known as PC-cillin Internet Security in Australia and Virus Buster in Japan) is an antivirus and online security program developed by Trend Micro for the consumer market. According to NSS Lab comparative analysis of ...

– antivirus software * Ubisoft Connect client – official client for

Ubisoft Connect Ubisoft Connect (formerly Uplay) is a digital distribution, digital rights management, multiplayer and communications service developed by Ubisoft to provide an experience similar to the achievements/trophies offered by various other game comp ...

UBot Studio UBot Studio is a web browser automation tool, which allows users to build scripts that complete web-based actions such as data mining, web testing, and social media marketing. The scripts are created via a command window inside the UBot Studio bro ...

– internet marketing and web automation software *

Uniface In archaeology, a uniface is a specific type of stone tool that has been flaked on one surface only. There are two general classes of uniface tools: modified flakes—and formalized tools, which display deliberate, systematic modification of ...

– Uniface runtime and development environment *

Unity Unity may refer to: Buildings * Unity Building, Oregon, Illinois, US; a historic building * Unity Building (Chicago), Illinois, US; a skyscraper * Unity Buildings, Liverpool, UK; two buildings in England * Unity Chapel, Wyoming, Wisconsin, US; a h ...

– game engine *

Unreal Engine Unreal Engine (UE) is a 3D computer graphics game engine developed by Epic Games, first showcased in the 1998 first-person shooter game ''Unreal''. Initially developed for PC first-person shooters, it has since been used in a variety of genres ...

– game engine *

Xojo The Xojo programming environment and programming language is developed and commercially marketed by Xojo, Inc. of Austin, Texas for software development targeting macOS, Microsoft Windows, Linux, iOS, the Web and Raspberry Pi. Xojo uses a propri ...

– uses CEF with its HTMLViewer control on Windows

References

External links

* {{Official website, https://bitbucket.org/chromiumembedded/cef C++ software Free software Google Chrome

Overview

Supported languages

Applications using CEF

See also

References

External links