The HTTP Referrer-Policy response header controls how much referrer information (sent with the Referer header) should be included with requests. Aside from the HTTP header, you can set this policy in HTML.Header type Response header
Referrer-Policy: no-referrer
Referrer-Policy: no-referrer-when-downgrade
Referrer-Policy: origin
Referrer-Policy: origin-when-cross-origin
Referrer-Policy: same-origin
Referrer-Policy: strict-origin
Referrer-Policy: strict-origin-when-cross-origin
Referrer-Policy: unsafe-urlNote: The header name Referer is a misspelling of the word "referrer". The Referrer-Policy header does not share this misspelling.
no-referrerThe Referer header will be omitted: sent requests do not include any referrer information.
no-referrer-when-downgradeSend the origin, path, and query string in Referer when the protocol security level stays the same or improves (HTTP→HTTP, HTTP→HTTPS, HTTPS→HTTPS). Don't send the Referer header for requests to less secure destinations (HTTPS→HTTP, HTTPS→file).
originSend only the origin in the Referer header. For example, a document at https://example.com/page.html will send the referrer https://example.com/.
origin-when-cross-originWhen performing a same-origin request, send the origin, path, and query string. Send only the origin for cross origin requests and requests to less secure destinations (HTTPS→HTTP).
same-originSend the origin, path, and query string for same-origin requests. Don't send the Referer header for cross-origin requests.
strict-originSend only the origin when the protocol security level stays the same (HTTPS→HTTPS). Don't send the Referer header to less secure destinations (HTTPS→HTTP).
strict-origin-when-cross-origin (default)Send the origin, path, and query string when performing a same-origin request. For cross-origin requests send the origin (only) when the protocol security level stays same (HTTPS→HTTPS). Don't send the Referer header to less secure destinations (HTTPS→HTTP).
Note: This is the default policy if no policy is specified, or if the provided value is invalid (see spec revision November 2020). Previously the default was no-referrer-when-downgrade.
unsafe-urlSend the origin, path, and query string when performing any request, regardless of security.
Warning: This policy will leak potentially-private information from HTTPS resource URLs to insecure origins. Carefully consider the impact of this setting.
Origin headerThe referrer policy also affects whether the user agent sets the Origin header with the request's origin or as null (as well as the Referer header).
Requests using GET or HEAD, or made in cors, websocket, or webtransport mode, are never affected: if the user agent sends an Origin header for them at all, it sends the request's origin, regardless of the referrer policy.
For other requests — such as HTML form submissions or fetch() calls using mode: "same-origin" or "no-cors" — the user agent sets Origin to null when the referrer policy is:
no-referrer.no-referrer-when-downgrade, strict-origin, or strict-origin-when-cross-origin, and the request goes from an https origin to a URL that isn't https.same-origin, and the request is cross-origin.Any other policy value leaves the Origin header set to the request's origin.
Note: Because fetch() defaults to mode: "cors", a same-origin fetch() POST always sends its real Origin, even under Referrer-Policy: no-referrer. The null-Origin behavior above therefore mainly applies to navigate-mode requests, like HTML form submissions, rather than to fetch() calls.
You can also set referrer policies inside HTML. For example, you can set the referrer policy for the entire document with a <meta> element with a name of referrer:
<meta name="referrer" content="origin" />You can specify the referrerpolicy attribute on <a>, <area>, <img>, <iframe>, <script>, or <link> elements to set referrer policies for individual requests:
<a href="http://example.com" referrerpolicy="origin">…</a>Alternatively, you can set a noreferrer link relation on an a, area, or link elements:
<a href="http://example.com" rel="noreferrer">…</a>Warning: As seen above, the noreferrer link relation is written without a dash. When you specify the referrer policy for the entire document with a <meta> element, it should be written with a dash: <meta name="referrer" content="no-referrer">.
CSS can fetch resources referenced from stylesheets. These resources follow a referrer policy as well:
strict-origin-when-cross-origin), unless it's overwritten by a Referrer-Policy HTTP header on the CSS stylesheet's response.<style> elements or style attributes, the owner document's referrer policy is used.no-referrer| From document | Navigation to | Referrer used |
|---|---|---|
https://example.com/page | anywhere | (no referrer) |
no-referrer-when-downgrade| From document | Navigation to | Referrer used |
|---|---|---|
https://example.com/page | https://example.com/otherpage | https://example.com/page |
https://example.com/page | https://mozilla.org | https://example.com/page |
https://example.com/page | http://example.com | (no referrer) |
| http://example.com/page | anywhere | http://example.com/page |
origin| From document | Navigation to | Referrer used |
|---|---|---|
https://example.com/page | anywhere | https://example.com/ |
origin-when-cross-origin| From document | Navigation to | Referrer used |
|---|---|---|
https://example.com/page | https://example.com/otherpage | https://example.com/page |
https://example.com/page | https://mozilla.org | https://example.com/ |
https://example.com/page | http://example.com/page | https://example.com/ |
same-origin| From document | Navigation to | Referrer used |
|---|---|---|
https://example.com/page | https://example.com/otherpage | https://example.com/page |
https://example.com/page | https://mozilla.org | (no referrer) |
strict-origin| From document | Navigation to | Referrer used |
|---|---|---|
https://example.com/page | https://mozilla.org | https://example.com/ |
https://example.com/page | http://example.com | (no referrer) |
| http://example.com/page | anywhere | http://example.com/ |
strict-origin-when-cross-origin| From document | Navigation to | Referrer used |
|---|---|---|
https://example.com/page | https://example.com/otherpage | https://example.com/page |
https://example.com/page | https://mozilla.org | https://example.com/ |
https://example.com/page | http://example.com | (no referrer) |
unsafe-url| From document | Navigation to | Referrer used |
|---|---|---|
https://example.com/page?q=123 | anywhere | https://example.com/page?q=123 |
If you want to specify a fallback policy in case the desired policy hasn't got wide enough browser support, use a comma-separated list with the desired policy specified last:
Referrer-Policy: no-referrer, strict-origin-when-cross-originIn the above scenario, no-referrer is used only if the browser does not support the strict-origin-when-cross-origin policy.
Note: Specifying multiple values is only supported in the Referrer-Policy HTTP header, and not in the referrerpolicy attribute.
You can configure the default referrer policy in Firefox preferences. The preference names are version specific:
network.http.referer.defaultPolicy (and network.http.referer.defaultPolicy.pbmode for private networks)network.http.referer.userControlPolicyAll of these settings take the same set of values: 0 = no-referrer, 1 = same-origin, 2 = strict-origin-when-cross-origin, 3 = no-referrer-when-downgrade.