What is the HTML5 Cache Manifest (and why is it deprecated)?

Updated Apr 28, 2026

Short answer

An early HTML5 offline feature replaced by Service Workers.

Deep explanation

Application Cache (AppCache) used a manifest file to list resources to be cached. It was notoriously difficult to debug and had 'gotchas' (e.g., if one file failed, the whole cache failed). It has been superseded by the Service Worker API for more granular control.

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