# What is browser fingerprinting?

Learn how browser characteristics can be combined, why changing your IP is not enough, and what a browser-information check can tell you.

Website: https://zenshield.com/glossary/browser-fingerprinting

Canonical URL: https://zenshield.com/glossary/browser-fingerprinting

Page reviewed: 2026-09-12

Browser fingerprinting combines characteristics of a browser or device to try to recognise it. These can include settings and capabilities exposed through web APIs.

## Why the IP is only one signal

A website may observe language, display characteristics and browser behavior in addition to the address used for the connection. Some of those details can remain similar after a VPN changes the public IP.

That does not mean a website can always identify a specific person. Recognition depends on the signals collected, their stability and the population being compared. A list of browser settings alone is not a reliable uniqueness score.

## Inspect a limited set of visible values

Use [the browser information checker](https://zenshield.com/tools/browser-info) to see the basic values this page can read. The tool does not upload a fingerprint, test every available technique or compare you against a database of other visitors.

A user-agent string is not a precise hardware inventory. Browsers may reduce or alter values for privacy and compatibility.

## Reduce exposure without breaking everything

Keep the browser updated and use its built-in tracking protections. Review extension permissions and remove extensions you no longer need. Unusual custom changes can have unexpected compatibility effects, so prefer documented protections over random lists of flags.

Mozilla documents fingerprinting protections in Firefox. Other browsers offer their own controls and limits. If a site stops working after a privacy change, troubleshoot the specific permission rather than turning every protection off.

A VPN remains useful for network routing and public-IP privacy, but it is not a complete fingerprinting defense. Signing into an account also identifies that account regardless of fingerprinting.

## Sources
- https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Glossary/Fingerprinting
- https://www.mozilla.org/firefox/features/block-fingerprinting/