Difference between .dll and .exe?

Question

I want to know the exact difference between the dll and exe file.

Answer 1

For those looking a concise answer,

• If an assembly is compiled as a class library and provides types for other assemblies to use, then it has the ifle extension .dll (dynamic link library), and it cannot be executed standalone.

• Likewise, if an assembly is compiled as an application, then it has the file extension .exe (executable) and can be executed standalone. Before .NET Core 3.0, console apps were compiled to .dll fles and had to be executed by the dotnet run command or a host executable. - Source