A web browser is application software that retrieves and displays web pages from the internet or private networks. It allows users to view HTML documents that may contain text, images, videos, and other multimedia files. When a user enters a URL, the browser determines the protocol and sends a request to the web server. The server then sends the requested page which the browser displays while also executing any code like JavaScript. Popular browsers include Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome, Safari and the Indian browser Epic which has additional features like built-in antivirus and support for 12 Indian languages.