Babel (transcompiler)
JavaScript compiler that compiles ES2015+ code into backwards compatible JavaScript for older versions of browsers
Babel is a free and open-source JavaScript transcompiler that is mainly used to convert ECMAScript 2015+ (ES6+) code into backwards-compatible JavaScript code that can be run by older JavaScript engines. It allows web developers to take advantage of the newest features of the language.
Developers can use new JavaScript language features by using Babel to convert their source code into versions of JavaScript that a Web browser can process. Babel can also be used to compile TypeScript into JavaScript. The core version of Babel was downloaded 5 million times a month in 2016, and this increased to 16 million times a week in 2019.
Babel plugins transform syntax that is not widely supported into a backward-compatible version. For example, arrow functions, which are specified in ES6, are converted into regular function declarations. Non-standard JavaScript syntax such as JSX can also be transformed.
Babel can automatically inject polyfills provided by core-js for support features that are missing entirely from JavaScript environments. For example, static methods such as Array.from and built-ins such as Promise are available only in ES6 and above, but they can be used in older environments if core-js is used.
“Babel (transcompiler)” enters the record as javaScript compiler that compiles ES2015+ code into backwards compatible JavaScript for older versions of browsers. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Babel, transcompiler and JavaScript can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 20, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q55604651. 1 of 10 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2015, 2016 and 2019.
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This entry incorporates text from “Babel (transcompiler)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.