Free and open-source software (
FOSS) is
computer software that can be classified as both
free software and
open-source software. That is, anyone is
freely licensed to use, copy, study, and change the software in any way, and the source code is openly shared so that people are encouraged to voluntarily improve the design of the software. This is in contrast to
proprietary software, where the software is under restrictive
copyright and the source code is usually hidden from the users.