If you ever cut opem filters you can see the diffeence. However, the Fram Xxtra guard is a OK filter. Traditonal Frams use paper end caps with a folded over joint allowing oil to pass through unfilter areas of the filter. Other high quality filter have metal end caps and have a metal clamp or adhesive where to two ends of the filter material meet. Fram uses a bend piece of what seems to be pop metal to hold the filter element against the inlet and outlet, while, lets say a Wix filter uses a heavy duty spring. It boils down to who spends money on their product and who spends money on their advertising. If you go to any bussiness with a fleet of heavy duty vehicles you'll see eith Wix, Napa Gold series, Donalson, or Baldwin filters. They search for these brands for a reason.
