What is a CRX file?

A CRX file is an extension used for extending the functionality of internet browsers Google chrome, Microsoft Edge, and Firefox. It adds specific functionality for accessing right from the browser for which the plugin file has been developed. Extensions are built for different purposes such as website traffic analysis, ad blocker, password manager, ecommerce listing analyzer, webpage trnaslator, and many more.

CRX File Format

CRX files are stored as a compressed binary file with its constituent files packed inside the archive. It can contain a .JS, .JSON files, images or even executable files. Browsers such as Google Chrome also allow to load extensions in developer mode which allows further debugging of extension functionality.

How to install a Web Extension?

Web browsers such as Chrome has a menu option “Extensions” that lets you load CRX extension files. When an extension is loaded from online extension store, it downloads the extension file contents, decompresses them and installs the extension to load the desired functionality. This whole process doesn’t require any user interaction for installing the CRX file.

How to load CRX files in chrome?

In order to open a CRX file:

  1. Go to the extensions menu in Google Chrome browser
  2. Drag and drop the CRX file to the extension page of the browser
  3. Click Add Extension when prompted

References