Sass is a CSS pre-processor with syntax advancements. Style sheets in the advanced syntax are processed by the program, and turned into regular CSS style sheets. However, they do not extend the CSS standard itself.

CSS variables are supported and can be utilized but not as well as pre-processor variables.

For the difference between SCSS and Sass, this text on the Sass documentation page should answer the question:

The SCSS syntax uses the file extension .scss. With a few small exceptions, it’s a superset of CSS, which means essentially all valid CSS is valid SCSS as well. Because of its similarity to CSS, it’s the easiest syntax to get used to and the most popular.

The indented syntax was Sass’s original syntax, and so it uses the file extension .sass. Because of this extension, it’s sometimes just called “Sass”. The indented syntax supports all the same features as SCSS, but it uses indentation instead of curly braces and semicolons to describe the format of the document.

However, all this works only with the Sass pre-compiler which in the end creates CSS. It is not an extension to the CSS standard itself.

Answer from anon on Stack Overflow
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Sass
sass-lang.com › documentation › syntax
Sass: Syntax
The indented syntax was Sass’s original syntax, so it uses the file extension .sass. Because of this extension, it’s sometimes just called "Sass". The indented syntax supports all the same features as SCSS, but it uses indentation instead of curly braces and semicolons to describe the format of the document.
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Sass
sass-lang.com › guide
Sass: Sass Basics
The SCSS syntax (.scss) is used most commonly. It’s a superset of CSS, which means all valid CSS is also valid SCSS. The indented syntax (.sass) is more unusual: it uses indentation rather than curly braces to nest statements, and newlines instead of semicolons to separate them.
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Sublime Forum
forum.sublimetext.com › t › how-can-i-get-my-scss-files-to-open-with-the-scss-syntax › 7136
How can I get my .scss files to open with the SCSS syntax? - Technical Support - Sublime Forum
September 4, 2012 - Essentially, I use SCSS for most of my CSS authoring, I rarely ever use the older/original SASS syntax itself, so I want to be able to quick find (CMD+T) my application.css.scss file and have it open with the SCSS syntax. The problem with this is that: When SASS bundle is installed, the file ...
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Thorsten Hans' blog
thorsten-hans.com › home › an introduction to sass
An Introduction to SASS · Thorsten Hans
February 18, 2014 - SCSS is the most popular dialect from SASS. It’s based on CSS3 and adds some custom keywords and syntactic elements to the latest CSS standard. Because it’s based on CSS3 syntax, it’s straightforward to learn, and you should prefer SCSS syntax over SASS syntax in these days.
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LogRocket
blog.logrocket.com › home › the definitive guide to scss
The definitive guide to SCSS - LogRocket Blog
June 4, 2024 - Officially described as “CSS with superpowers,” SCSS (or Sass) offers a way to write styles for websites with more enhanced CSS syntax. In general, browsers do not know how to process SCSS features, such as functions, mixins, and nesting.
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Codecademy
codecademy.com › docs › css › sass
CSS | Sass | Codecademy
August 25, 2025 - Note: Sass has two syntaxes: SCSS (.scss) and indented syntax (.Sass). SCSS (Sassy Cascading Style Sheets) is the most commonly used and is similar to CSS, allowing code to be written with curly braces and semicolons.
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Sass
sass-lang.com › documentation › at-rules › use
Sass: @use
As a convention, Sass files that are only meant to be loaded as modules, not compiled on their own, begin with _ (as in _code.scss). These are called partials, and they tell Sass tools not to try to compile those files on their own.
Top answer
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2348

Sass is a CSS pre-processor with syntax advancements. Style sheets in the advanced syntax are processed by the program, and turned into regular CSS style sheets. However, they do not extend the CSS standard itself.

CSS variables are supported and can be utilized but not as well as pre-processor variables.

For the difference between SCSS and Sass, this text on the Sass documentation page should answer the question:

The SCSS syntax uses the file extension .scss. With a few small exceptions, it’s a superset of CSS, which means essentially all valid CSS is valid SCSS as well. Because of its similarity to CSS, it’s the easiest syntax to get used to and the most popular.

The indented syntax was Sass’s original syntax, and so it uses the file extension .sass. Because of this extension, it’s sometimes just called “Sass”. The indented syntax supports all the same features as SCSS, but it uses indentation instead of curly braces and semicolons to describe the format of the document.

However, all this works only with the Sass pre-compiler which in the end creates CSS. It is not an extension to the CSS standard itself.

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792

I'm one of the developers who helped create Sass.

The difference is syntax. Underneath the textual exterior they are identical. This is why sass and scss files can import each other. Actually, Sass has four syntax parsers: scss, sass, CSS, and less. All of these convert a different syntax into an Abstract Syntax Tree which is further processed into CSS output or even onto one of the other formats via the sass-convert tool.

Use the syntax you like the best, both are fully supported and you can change between them later if you change your mind.

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Technaureus
technaureus.com › blog-detail › difference-between-sass-and-scss
Difference between SASS and SCSS | SASS | SCSS - Technaureus
SASS follows strict indentation, SCSS has no strict indentation. SASS has a loose syntax with white space and no semicolons, the SCSS resembles more to CSS style and use of semicolons and braces are mandatory.
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W3Schools
w3schools.com › sass › sass_intro.asp
Sass Introduction
Well organized and easy to understand Web building tutorials with lots of examples of how to use HTML, CSS, JavaScript, SQL, Python, PHP, Bootstrap, Java, XML and more.
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Woutermuller
woutermuller.net › sass-vs-scss
Why I prefer the SASS indented syntax over the SCSS syntax
What a lot of people don’t know, ... ... This also goes for SASS placeholders, you can type = instead of @extend. The SASS syntax is indentation-based just like HAML, so it plays very well with HAML....
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W3C
jigsaw.w3.org › css-validator
The W3C CSS Validation Service
Check Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) and (X)HTML documents with style sheets · Enter the URI of a document (HTML with CSS or CSS only) you would like validated:
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The Customize Windows
thecustomizewindows.com › 2024 › 06 › sass-vs-scss-writing-the-perfect-syntax
Sass vs. SCSS: Writing the Perfect Syntax
June 4, 2024 - It’s a superset of CSS, which means all valid CSS is also valid SCSS. The indented syntax (.sass) is more unusual: it uses indentation rather than curly braces to nest statements, and newlines instead of semicolons to separate them.
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Bootswatch
bootswatch.com
Bootswatch: Free themes for Bootstrap
Simply download a CSS file and replace the one in Bootstrap. No messing around with hex values · Changes are contained in just two SASS files, enabling further customization and ensuring forward compatibility
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Sass
sass-lang.com › documentation › variables
Sass: Variables
// _library.scss $black: #000 !default; $border-radius: 0.25rem !default; $box-shadow: 0 0.5rem 1rem rgba($black, 0.15) !default; code { border-radius: $border-radius; box-shadow: $box-shadow; }
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Sass
sass-lang.com › documentation
Sass: Documentation
Sass is a stylesheet language that’s compiled to CSS. It allows you to use variables, nested rules, mixins, functions, and more, all with a fully CSS-compatible syntax.
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Sass
sass-lang.com
Sass: Syntactically Awesome Style Sheets
Sass is the most mature, stable, and powerful professional grade CSS extension language in the world · Sass is completely compatible with all versions of CSS. We take this compatibility seriously, so that you can seamlessly use any available CSS libraries
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Tuts Insider
tutsinsider.com › home › sass › sass syntax
Sass and SCSS Syntax Tutorial | Sass Programming Basics
August 17, 2025 - Sass and SCSS provide a more powerful, modular way to write CSS, making stylesheets easier to create and maintain. This tutorial covers the core syntax of indented Sass and SCSS, including variables, nesting, mixins, and operators.
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Swift SEO
swiftseo.app › home › seo glossary › scss
What does SCSS (Sassy Cascading Style Sheets) mean?
October 16, 2024 - Both SCSS and Sass are syntaxes of the same preprocessor, but SCSS is closer to regular CSS. In fact, any valid CSS is also valid SCSS. Sass, on the other hand, uses a more minimal syntax that doesn’t require curly braces ({}) or semicolons (;).