Difference between list and library in SharePoint?

If you want to manage the records same as you maintain in SQL server database then in that case you can use SharePoint list. List are generally meant to hold your records. Sometime you want to add some documents with records for that scenario SharePoint list supports attachments. While if you want to maintain documents and their properties then you can use SharePoint library. SharePoint libraries are meant to store the documents same as you store blobs in SQL server database. Sometime you also want to store the information about the document, then for that SharePoint provides metadata for the libraries.

1. List can have Attachment but Library can not have Attachment. 2. List have only major Versioning but Library have both major(Published) and Minor Versioning(Draft) . 3. Check In/ Check Out feature are not inside List but in Library these features are available.

Lists: Can have attachments Have major versions only Do not have Check-in/Check-out features Libraries: Cannot have attachments (files are directly in the library) Have both minor (draft) and major (published) versioning Have Check-in/Check-Out Publishing Libraries can use Page Layouts Have Unique Document Ids out of the box