HTML vs HTM – Difference between HTML and HTM

Do you know? Every page on the World Wide Web (WWW) is built using HTML. This is because every browser including Chrome, Firefox, Safari, and Edge understand this hypertext markup language to render what we usually call a web page.

HTML is a markup language that helps in the formatting of different kinds of a programming language such as PHP, ASP.net, JAVA, etc. The browser reads a web page in HTML language and displays the output of back end programming performed.

HTML vs HTM – Difference between HTML and HTM

HTML vs HTM - Difference between HTML and HTM

.html is is the current extension of HTML web pages and files for newer operating systems. Moreover, the .html extension was introduced for security reasons as there were more security threats in the three-letter extension of .htm.

.htm is the older version of the filename extension of HTML language. This extension was used in earlier times as the operating systems were not so powerful to handle four-letter extension. When compared to .html extension the .htm was less secured and hence .html extension came into existence.

How Browsers Read HTML and HTM files

As we have discussed above all the web pages are rendered using HTML language by the browser. Now, let’s see how these browsers read .html and .htm web pages. For browsers to read an HTML page there is a fixed structure defined by the language. The structure needs to follow the proper alignment of all tags in a particular flow. Structure works in the workflow as:

Generally for Windows operating system “Notepad editor” and for Mac OS “Text Edit” is used for creating a HTML web page. You can use any other text editor also.

This is how the browser reads HTML pages and displays content on the internet. It never displays the tags you used in creating a web page. The tags are only used for understanding the content of the web page and displaying them in the format described.

Basis HTML HTM
Difference of letter It uses four-letter extension i.e. .html for handling dynamic pages It uses only three-letter extension i.e. .htm and is less reliable than .html
Usability .html is used as the current extension of HTML web page .htm is the older version and was used for older operating systems
Security Higher security with browsers Low as compared to .html
Operating system Cannot be used in old operating systems like DOS Can be used in new as well as older versions of operating systems
File size Can handle big file sizes Cannot handle big file sizes

Final Words on HTML and HTM

Both HTML and HTM are same and either of them can be used as a filename extension of a web page. There is no such big difference between HTML and HTM instead of security purpose. HTML is considered to handle dynamic pages and enhances the security of your web page than HTM.

One should use .html extension as it is given more focus in modern operating systems. Otherwise, you can use both the extension types and they will do the same work for your web page.

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