Difference between Layer Definition File (qlr) and QGIS Layer Style File (qml)?

Question

What is the difference between Layer Definition File (qlr) and QGIS Layer Style File (qml)? Which one is recommended?

I have only used qlr so far. It seems store all the data displayed in the "properties" of the layer.

Answer 1

This question is answered in a blog post by Nathan Woodrow: What are all these QGIS file types? Why do I need them

Here's a summary:

• The QML file (.qml) contains style information

• The Layer Definition file (.qlr) contains a layer source pointer + style information

So you can drag a QLR file into a project, and it adds the layer with all its saved styling.

A QML file isn't tied to any specific data source.