What is browser caching?

What is browser caching?

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The browser cache is a folder on a hard drive that stores files (such as WebPages, images, fonts, etc.) that are once accessed. This improves the performance of a Web site, as it allows users to view these files from the local cache without accessing them from the server again.

When a user enters a URL on the address bar of the Web browser, the browser checks the cache to see if the page is already stored there. If it exists, the cached version is shown instead of accessing it from the Internet again.

The location of a cached file depends on the Web browser. For example, Netscape Navigator stores it in the NS_Temp folder, and Internet Explorer stores it in the Temporary Internet Files folder.

Users can configure either time or size of the cache. The browser will ignore the cached page after the specified duration and access it again from the server; and if the total size of the cache has been specified, the browser automatically deletes old cached files when it is full.

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