Microsoft Edge WebView2 Runtime

Microsoft Edge WebView2 Runtime enables the proper execution format, according to the necessities imposed by the building model of WebView2 applications. Also, it is a vital component for the development of Windows applications built using Win32 C/C++, WPF, WinForms, or WinUI3.

Understanding the differences between WebView2 SDK and the runtime environment

As a developer, you need to make well-optimized applications, and to find a comfortable balance between the use of Windows-native platforms, components, and programming languages and the use of web technologies, such as HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.
Microsoft's solution is primarily focused on helping you create flexible programs — hybrid apps — that are at the crosspoint of native and web applications. They aim at delivering this development method via the use of WebView2. The WebView2 SDK includes a list of components and tools that are strictly needed during the development process.
On the flip side, after having developed a WebView2 application, for it to run seamlessly, there would be a need for the WebView2 Runtime components, on every machine that runs that app. Luckily, there are several ways to integrate the needed tools on the systems that will run your programs.

A seamless execution model for scalable and flexible applications

The Microsoft Edge WebView2 Runtime is a set of utilities that is available in different formats. First, there are the offline executables that, once initialized, will install on your machine the required components for a perfectly synchronized environment that can run your hybrid applications. These executables are available for 32-bit, 64-bit, and ARM system architectures (the Evergreen standalone installers).
Secondly, there is the online installation that comes in the form of a Bootstrapper (a small installer that matches your device's architecture with the proper installation method, and proceeds to download and install it) or as a link that gets integrated into your application and automatically matches a machine's architecture with the needed version of the runtime environment (which makes it a lot easier for end-users to get the proper system configuration for running your app).
Thirdly, there are the CAB packages that allow you to download a fixed version of the WebView2 Runtime, alongside all of its components, libraries, dependencies, etc.

Final considerations

To conclude, with WebView2, you can now integrate everything that the web has to offer with the powerful capabilities of Microsoft's development frameworks and APIs, such as Win32 C/C++, WPF, WinForms, and WinUI3.
Also, using the Microsoft Edge WebView2 Runtime, you can easily bring, on any machine, all the necessary portions of a proper execution model for your hybrid apps.