Persistent Cookie

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What Does Persistent Cookie Mean?

A persistent cookie is a data file capable of providing websites with user preferences, settings and information for future visits. Persistent cookies provide convenient and rapid access to familiar objects, which enhances the user experience (UX).

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A persistent cookie is also known as a stored or permanent cookie.

Techopedia Explains Persistent Cookie

When users visit a website and set choices or preferences, persistent cookies may be used to remember these options. Persistent cookies can help isolate and identify a specific client and are capable of traversing a user’s path toward a website. They are stored as text files on the hard drive of a computer and usually have expiration dates of one to two years.

Persistent cookies facilitate setting the following preferences:

  • Favorites or internal bookmarks
  • User authentication
  • Login details
  • Menu preferences
  • Theme selection, if applicable
  • Language preferences

Persistent cookies are also capable of providing the browsing behavior of users.

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Margaret Rouse
Technology Expert
Margaret Rouse
Technology Expert

Margaret is an award-winning technical writer and teacher known for her ability to explain complex technical subjects to a non-technical business audience. Over the past twenty years, her IT definitions have been published by Que in an encyclopedia of technology terms and cited in articles by the New York Times, Time Magazine, USA Today, ZDNet, PC Magazine, and Discovery Magazine. She joined Techopedia in 2011. Margaret's idea of a fun day is helping IT and business professionals learn to speak each other’s highly specialized languages.