[opensourcedex]

Thorium-Win is a free, open source browsers & extensions project written in Batchfile and released under BSD-3-Clause. It has 2,534 GitHub stars, 54 forks and 25 open issues, and was last pushed 25 days ago. On this registry it ranks #56 of 65 tracked projects in Browsers & Extensions, with 5 head-to-head comparisons available.

What is Thorium-Win?

What it is

Thorium-Win is the Windows build repository for Thorium, a Chromium fork named after radioactive element No. 90. It lives in the Chromium browser ecosystem and provides Windows binaries built from the latest stable Chromium source. The repository is part of a broader Thorium project whose main repository hosts source code for all platforms and serves Linux builds.

The concrete problem is distribution and platform-specific packaging. Users who want a Windows browser based on Chromium can get an .exe installer or portable .zip without compiling Chromium themselves. The project also separates build variants by CPU instruction set and Windows version, so users can choose standard Windows builds, AVX2 builds, or older Windows 7/8/8.1 releases from the appropriate repository.

Key capabilities

  • Provides Windows builds of Thorium, a Chromium fork intended to behave like and have the feature set of Google Chrome.
  • Releases each build as an .exe installer and as a portable .zip archive.
  • Keeps the browser based on the latest stable version of Chromium.
  • Separates AVX2 Windows builds into https://github.com/Alex313031/Thorium-AVX2.
  • Directs Windows 7, 8, and 8.1 users to https://github.com/Alex313031/thorium-win7.
  • Lists related Thorium repositories for macOS, Android, Raspberry Pi, Windows on ARM, and SSE3, SSE4, and 32-bit builds.
  • Documents native Windows and cross-build instructions through BUILDING_WIN.md and BUILDING_WIN_CROSS.md.

Who uses it and how

  • Windows users who want a Chromium-based browser can download the installer or portable archive instead of building Chromium from source.
  • Users who need AVX2 builds can move to the separate AVX2 repository.
  • Users still on Windows 7, 8, or 8.1 can use the dedicated older-Windows repository rather than the current Windows build repository.
  • Users can choose the portable .zip form and follow the instructions included in the zip file.
  • Builders can follow the linked Windows build documentation to compile Thorium natively or cross-build it from Linux.

Getting started

Typical use is to download the .exe installer or portable .zip from the Windows build repository, with instructions for the portable archive included in the zip file. Builders can follow BUILDING_WIN.md for native Windows builds or BUILDING_WIN_CROSS.md for cross-building on Linux.

When to use it — and when not to

Use Thorium-Win when you want a Windows Chromium browser that is intended to behave like and have the feature set of Google Chrome, but you need the Windows builds hosted by this project. Do not use this repository as the source for non-Windows platforms, because the README states that this repo only hosts Windows builds and points to separate repositories for macOS, Android, Raspberry Pi, Windows on ARM, AVX2, and older Windows versions. A weakness is that the project is distributed across several repositories, so users must identify the correct build channel for their CPU instruction set and Windows version.

project readme (upstream, from github) — read inline

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Thorium for Windows

Repo to serve Windows builds of Thorium!
IMPORTANT: PLEASE USE THE NEW WINDOWS 7/8 REPO HERE FOR WINDOWS 7/8/8.1 RELEASES > https://github.com/Alex313031/thorium-win7
NEW: AVX2 Builds are now being served at https://github.com/Alex313031/Thorium-AVX2  

This repo only hosts Windows builds. The other Thorium repos :

Main repo that hosts the source code for all platforms and serves linux builds > https://github.com/Alex313031/Thorium

Windows AVX2 repo that serves AVX2 Windows builds > https://github.com/Alex313031/Thorium-Win-AVX2

MacOS builds for x64 and M1 ARM64 are here > https://github.com/Alex313031/Thorium-MacOS \

Android builds for ARM32 and ARM64 are here > https://github.com/Alex313031/Thorium-Android \

Raspberry Pi (ARM64) builds are here > https://github.com/Alex313031/Thorium-Raspi \

Builds for Windows 7/8/8.1 are here > https://github.com/Alex313031/thorium-win7 \

Windows on ARM (arm64) builds are here > https://github.com/Alex313031/Thorium-WOA \

Special repo which serves builds for SSE3, SSE4, and 32 bit builds are here > https://github.com/Alex313031/Thorium-Special \

Another related project I'm trying to share is ThoriumOS : ChromiumOS builds with Thorium, Widevine, Google Sync, Google Drive, Kernel 5.15, firmware, and extra packages > https://github.com/Alex313031/ThoriumOS

Chromium fork for Windows named after radioactive element No. 90; Windows builds of https://github.com/Alex313031/Thorium

  • Always built with the latest stable version of Chromium.
  • Intended to behave like and have the featureset of Google Chrome, with differences/patches/enhancements listed Here.
  • I release Thorium as an .exe installer and a portable .zip. Portable instructions are in the Readme in the zip file.

Building

For building yourself, follow instructions at BUILDING_WIN.md (if building natively on Windows), OR BUILDING_WIN_CROSS.md (if cross building for Windows on Linux).

Thanks for using Thorium!

Frequently asked questions

Is Thorium-Win free to use?

Thorium-Win is open source under the BSD-3-Clause licence. There is no licence fee and no seat count — you can self-host it or, where the project offers one, pay a vendor for a managed version instead.

What does Thorium-Win do?

Chromium fork for Windows named after radioactive element No. 90; Windows builds of https://github.com/Alex313031/Thorium

What is Thorium-Win written in?

Thorium-Win is primarily written in Batchfile. Its source is publicly available at https://github.com/Alex313031/Thorium-Win, and it has 2,534 GitHub stars.