Exterior and external both mean outside, outer, but have slight differences in usage. Exterior is more commonly used as noun and adjective for physical outside part of object, building, or body, referring to outer surface, facade, or outward appearance, as in exterior of house, exterior paint, exterior walls, exterior design. It emphasizes physical outer side. External is more commonly used as adjective meaning outside system, organization, or body, often abstract or relational, referring to outside influence, outside source, or located outside, as in external factors, external audit, external hard drive, external consultant, external pressure. For example, exterior walls are walls facing outside physically, while external factors are influences coming from outside environment. Exterior is more concrete and architectural, external is more general and can be abstract. In many cases they are interchangeable, as exterior walls and external walls both understood, but exterior sounds more design focused, external sounds more systemic. As noun, you can say exterior of building but not external of building. So difference is exterior tends to refer to physical outer surface or facade, while external tends to refer to outside of system or organization and outside influences, though both mean outer and opposite of interior or internal.
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