If you really want something to be fractal, there needs to be a limiting process. You can't refine something infinitely in physical space, because of fundamenta

If you really want something to be fractal, there needs to be a limiting process. You can't refine something infinitely in physical space, because of fundamental physical limits. So, you could say it is "only" self-similar. But this is kind of missing the point. The engineering benefits of something "being" fractal are realized in this case even though the limiting process terminates below a certain point.