WASM
also: WebAssembly, WASM runtime
WebAssembly (WASM) is a binary instruction format that runs in web browsers and increasingly in standalone environments like Linux, offering near-native performance for compiled code.
WebAssembly is a low-level bytecode format designed to be fast, safe, and portable across different platforms. It was originally created for web browsers but has expanded to run on servers and Linux systems through runtimes like Wasmtime and WasmEdge.
On Linux, WASM can be executed outside the browser using specialized runtime engines. For example, you might compile a Rust or C++ program to WASM, then run it on Linux with: wasmtime myprogram.wasm
WASM is increasingly used for containerized workloads, serverless functions, and plugins because it provides a sandboxed execution environment with strict security boundaries—code running in WASM cannot directly access the host filesystem or network unless explicitly granted.