Many people still frequently confuse the two, but as the names imply, headphones go over or around the head, while earbuds are buds that fasten to your ear.
As we’ve detailed in our article, you can break down headphones into two main categories — over-the-ear and on-ear styles. With the former, the earcups usually cover the entirety of the ear to ensure that audio feeds directly without any ambient noise interfering with the performance. Noise-canceling headphones are usually designed with an over-the-ear style because of this exact reason.
Meanwhile, on-ear style headphones tend to rest gently on top of the ear, but they don’t cover the entire ear. And finally, earbuds such as the AirPods are tinier in size and usually inserted outside the ear canal.