Content Fragments vs Experience Fragments

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Adobe Experience Manager (AEM) provides powerful tools for managing and delivering content efficiently. Two essential components in AEM are Content Fragments (CF) and Experience Fragments (XF). While both are used to create reusable content, each serves a distinct purpose and offers unique capabilities.

Content Fragments

Content Fragments are structured content based on a Content Fragment Model (CFM) and implemented as dam:Asset. In the database paradigm, CFM acts as a table, while CFs play the role of rows.
Content Fragments can be delivered across channels using the AEM Headless GraphQL API and can also be used in AEM Sites or Experience Fragments through the AEM Core Content Fragment Component. It is content-centric, allowing AEM itself and third-party channels to adjust the design and layout according on their requirements.
MSM's standard rollout config does not update Content Fragment references to match the locale-specific paths in the live copy, resulting in references still pointing to the original source.

Experience Fragments

Experience Fragments are comprised of one or more AEM Components, enabling content authors to reuse the same content across multiple pages within AEM Sites or other Experience Fragments.
Using the AEM Core Experience Fragment Component, localized experience fragments can be rendered according to the current page's localization if component is configured in template and experience fragments are created following the specified fragmentVariationPath pattern. This is particularly useful for managing the headers and footers of AEM pages.
Experience Fragments have the capability to be exported to Adobe Target. Subsequently, they can used as offers in Target activities, and personalize experiences at scale.