XAML Browser Applications

XBAP
Filename extension
.xbap
Internet media type
application/x-ms-xbap
Type of formatPackage management system, file archive
Container forSoftware package
Extended fromZIP

XAML Browser Applications (XBAP, pronounced "ex-bap") are Windows Presentation Foundation (.xbap) applications that were intended to run inside a web browser such as Firefox or Internet Explorer through the NPAPI interface. Due to NPAPI being phased out in recent years, and from lack of support, there are currently no browsers that support XBAP applications.[1]

Hosted applications run in a partial trust sandbox environment and are not given full access to the computer's resources like opening a new network connection or saving a file to the computer disk and not all WPF functionality is available. The hosted environment is intended to protect the computer from malicious applications; however it can also run in full trust mode by the client changing the permission. Starting an XBAP from an HTML page was seamless (with no security or installation prompt). Although one perceived the application running in the browser, it actually ran in an out-of-process executable (PresentationHost.exe) managed by a virtual machine.

  1. ^ adegeo. "FAQ about XBAP supportability". learn.microsoft.com. Retrieved May 15, 2024.