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Web browser extension From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
uBlock Origin (/ˈjuːblɒk/ YOO-blok[5]) is a free and open-source browser extension for content filtering, including ad blocking. The extension is available for Chrome, Chromium, Edge, Firefox, Brave, Opera, Pale Moon, as well as versions of Safari before 13.[6] uBlock Origin has received praise from technology websites and is reported to be much less memory-intensive than other extensions[7][8] with similar functionality.[9][10] uBlock Origin's stated purpose is to give users the means to enforce their own (content-filtering) choices.[11][12]
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![]() uBlock Origin pop-up interface | |
Original author(s) | Raymond Hill (gorhill) |
---|---|
Developer(s) | Current: Raymond Hill Past: Deathamns, Chris Aljoudi, Alex Vallat[1] |
Initial release | June 23, 2014[2] |
Stable release | 1.59.0[3]
/ 30 July 2024 |
Repository | |
Written in | JavaScript |
Operating system | Cross-platform |
Available in | 72[4] languages |
Type | Browser extension |
License | GPLv3 |
Website | github |
uBlock Origin is actively developed and maintained by its creator and lead developer Raymond Hill.[1] As of September 2024[update], the Chrome version of uBlock Origin had over 37 million active users and the Firefox version had over 7 million active users.[13][14]
uBlock was initially named "μBlock" but the name was later changed to "uBlock" to avoid confusion as to how the Greek letter μ (Mu/Micro) in "μBlock" should be pronounced.[citation needed] Development started by forking from the codebase of HTTP Switchboard along with another blocking extension called uMatrix, designed for advanced users.[15] uBlock was developed by Raymond Hill to use community-maintained block lists,[16] while adding features and raising the code quality to release standards.[17] First released in June 2014 as a Chrome and Opera extension, in 2015 the extension became available in other browsers.[citation needed]
A joint Sourcepoint and comScore survey reported an 833% growth from November 2014 to August 2015, the strongest growth among adblockers listed.[18] The report attributed the growth to the desire of users for pure blockers, outside the "acceptable ads" program operated by Adblock Plus.[19]
On April 3, 2015, Hill transferred the uBlock project to Chris Aljoudi due to frustrations with dealing with requests as the project's popularity increased.[20] "These projects are to me, not a full time job. It stopped being a hobby when it felt more and more like a tedious job. I will keep maintaining my version (and share with whoever care to use it) because it guarantees the tool will match what I want out of it."[21] Hill created his own fork and renamed it uBlock Origin on April 6.[22]
Since October 2017, uBlock Origin has been completely separated from Aljoudi's uBlock.[23] Aljoudi created ublock.org to host and promote uBlock and to request donations. In response, uBlock's founder Raymond Hill stated that "the donations sought by ublock.org are not benefiting any of those who contributed most to create uBlock Origin."[6] The development of uBlock stopped in August 2015 but there were sporadic updates from January 2017.[24]
In July 2018, ublock.org was acquired by AdBlock and resumed development.[25] From February 2019, uBlock began allowing users to participate in "acceptable ads",[26][27] a program run by Adblock Plus that allows some ads deemed "acceptable" and nonintrusive, and for which larger publishers pay a fee.[28]
uBlock Origin remains independent and does not allow ads for payment.[29] The project refuses donations and instead advises supporters to donate to maintainers of block lists.[30] Hill continued to work on the extension under the name uBlock Origin, abbreviated as uBO[31] and originally as uBlock0.[32]
In January 2016, uBlock Origin was added to the repositories for Debian 9 and Ubuntu 16.04.[33][34] The extension was awarded "Pick of the Month" by Mozilla for May 2016.[35]
On December 11, 2016, Nik Rolls released a fork of uBlock Origin for the Microsoft Edge browser (now known as Microsoft Edge Legacy).[36] In April 2020, this fork was deprecated as Microsoft replaced Microsoft Edge Legacy with a Chromium-based Edge.[37]
In 2023, Google made changes known as "Manifest V3" to the WebRequest API used by ad blocking and privacy extensions to block and modify network connections.[38][39] Following Google's implementation of Manifest V3 and the end of support for V2, uBlock Origin's effectiveness is drastically reduced in Google Chrome and other Chromium-based browsers.[40][41][42]
As a result, uBlock Origin Lite was created and designed to comply with the Manifest V3 (MV3) extension framework. uBO Lite differs significantly from uBO in several key aspects, primarily due to the constraints and design goals associated with MV3. Specifically, it lacks filter list updates outside of extension updates, and has no custom filters, strict-blocked pages, per-site switches, or dynamic filtering. Non-Chromium browsers such as Firefox are unaffected.[43] Google has been criticized for implementing some of these features due to its domination in the online advertising market.[44][45][46][47]
uBlock Origin supports the majority of Adblock Plus's filter syntax. The popular filter lists EasyList and EasyPrivacy are enabled by default. The extensions are capable of importing hosts files and a number of community-maintained lists are available at installation. Among the host files available, Peter Lowe's ad servers & tracking list and lists of malware domains such as uBlock Origin's own anti-malicious filter called Badware risks are also enabled as default, preventing users from visiting malicious websites such as those used for phishing, scams, malware, and more.[48] Some additional features include dynamic filtering of scripts and iframes and a tool for webpage element hiding.[citation needed]
uBlock Origin includes a growing list of features not available in uBlock, including:
Site-specific switches to toggle the blocking of pop-ups, strict domain blocking, cosmetic filtering, blocking remote fonts, and JavaScript disabling were also added to uBlock Origin.[50] The Firefox version of uBlock Origin has an extra feature which helps to foil attempts by web sites to circumvent blockers.[51]
In November 2019, a uBlock Origin user reported a novel technique used by some sites to bypass third-party tracker blocking. These sites link to URLs that are sub-domains of the page's domain, but those sub-domains resolve to third-party hosts via a CNAME record. Since the initial URL contained a sub-domain of the current page, it was interpreted by browsers as a first-party request and so was allowed by the filtering rules in uBlock Origin (and in similar extensions). The uBlock Origin developer came up with a solution using a DNS API which is exclusive to Firefox 60+.[52] The new feature was implemented in uBlock Origin 1.25, released on February 19, 2020.[53]
Technology websites and user reviews for uBlock Origin have regarded the extension as less resource-intensive than extensions that provide similar feature sets such as Adblock Plus.[54][55][56] A benchmark test, conducted in August 2015 with ten blocking extensions, showed uBlock Origin as the most resource-efficient among the extensions tested.[57]
uBlock Origin surveys what style resources are required for an individual web page rather than relying on a universal style sheet. The extension takes a snapshot of the filters the user has enabled, which contributes to accelerated browser start-up speed when compared to retrieving filters from cache every time.[58]
uBlock Origin (uBO) faces several technical limitations when used on Chromium-based browsers compared to its performance on Firefox, and as a result, users may experience less effective ad blocking, potential exposure to unwanted content, and slower performance when using uBO on Chromium-based browsers:[59]
webRequest.filterResponseData()
API, is currently only available in Firefox, limiting the effectiveness of uBO's HTML filtering on Chromium-based platforms.replace=
option in network filtering, which allows for response body modification, is less effective in Chromium-based browsers. Firefox's support for this feature enables more robust content manipulation.uBlock Origin is actively developed for applications based on two major layout engines.[16][54][60]
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