A helper application is an external viewer program launched to display content retrieved using a web browser. Some common examples include Windows Media Player and QuickTime Player for playing streaming content.
Unlike a plugin(whose full code is included into browser code), a small line is added to the browser code to tell it to open a certain helper application in case it encounters a certain file format.
Famous quotes containing the word application:
“The receipt to make a speaker, and an applauded one too, is short and easy.—Take of common sense quantum sufficit, add a little application to the rules and orders of the House, throw obvious thoughts in a new light, and make up the whole with a large quantity of purity, correctness, and elegancy of style.”
—Philip Dormer Stanhope, 4th Earl Chesterfield (1694–1773)