ASP.NET Core - wwwroot Folder

By default, the wwwroot folder in the ASP.NET Core project is treated as a web root folder. Static files can be stored in any folder under the web root and accessed with a relative path to that root.

In the standard ASP.NET application, static files can be served from the root folder of an application or any other folder under it. This has been changed in ASP.NET Core. Now, only those files that are in the web root - wwwroot folder can be served over an http request. All other files are blocked and cannot be served by default.

Generally, there should be separate folders for the different types of static files such as JavaScript, CSS, Images, library scripts etc. in the wwwroot folder as shown below.

wwwroot

You can access static files with base URL and file name. For example, we can access above site.css file in the css folder by http://localhost:<port>/css/app.css.

Remember, you need to include a middleware for serving static files in the Configure method of Startup.cs. Learn more about it in Serving Static File section.

Rename wwwroot Folder

You can rename wwwroot folder to any other name as per your choice and set it as a web root while preparing hosting environment in the program.cs.

For example, let's rename wwwroot folder to Content folder. Now, call UseWebRoot() method to configure Content folder as a web root folder in the Main() method of Program class as shown below.

public class Program
{
    public static void Main(string[] args)
    {
        var host = new WebHostBuilder()
            .UseKestrel()
            .UseContentRoot(Directory.GetCurrentDirectory())
            .UseWebRoot("Content")
            .UseIISIntegration()
            .UseStartup<MyStartup>()
            .Build();

        host.Run();
    }
}

Thus, you can rename the default web root folder wwwroot as per your choice.