microsoft
This article is about the newer Chromium-based web browser. For the older EdgeHTML-based browser (also known as Microsoft Edge), see Microsoft Edge Legacy.

Microsoft Edge 1200px-Microsoft Edge logo (2019).svg is a propietary cross-platform web browser developed by Microsoft and based on the Chromium open-source project, superseding Microsoft Edge Legacy.[1][2] In Windows 11, Edge is the only browser available from Microsoft. However, a bypass is available to open Internet Explorer.

First made available only for Android and iOS in 2017,[3][4] in late 2018, Microsoft announced it would completely rebuild Edge as a Chromium-based[5] browser with Blink and V8 engines, which allowed the browser to be ported from Windows 10 to macOS.[6] The new Edge was publicly released in January 2020,[7][8] and on Xbox as well as Linux in 2021.[citation needed] Edge was also available on Windows 7 and Windows 8/8.1 until January 2023.[citation needed]

According to StatCounter, as of February 2023, Microsoft Edge is the third most popular browser in the world, behind Apple's Safari and Google Chrome.[9]

Features

The new Microsoft Edge is the default browser on Windows 10 and Windows 11, as well as the Xbox One, Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S consoles, replacing Edge Legacy and, in turn, replacing Internet Explorer 11 and Internet Explorer Mobile.[10]

In Windows 11, Edge is the only browser available from Microsoft (for compatibility[11][12] with Google Chrome). However, it includes an "Internet Explorer mode", which is aimed at fixing compatibility issues; it provides the legacy MSHTML browser engine and supports the legacy ActiveX and BHO technologies.[13]

New Edge also has a new feature called vertical tabs, which allows users to move tabs on the left side of the screen.

As of September 2025, there are more than 26,000 extensions – called add-ons – available for Edge.[14] Preliminary support for browser extensions was added in March 2016, with build 14291; three extensions were initially supported. Microsoft indicated that the delay in allowing extensions and the small number was due to security concerns.[15]

On February 7, 2023, Microsoft announced a major overhaul to Edge, revamping the user interface with Fluent Design, along with adding a Bing Chat (later known as Microsoft Copilot) button, which replaces the discover button.[16]

Microsoft also added compatibility for split screen, i.e., 2 tabs can be viewed simultaneously. A new feature, "Workspaces", was introduced, which lets the user create different spaces for various things. These workspaces are also collaborative; users can invite friends or colleagues and seamlessly have a completely separate workspace for collaboration.

Edge features a PDF reader,[17] and supports WebAssembly. Until January 2021, Edge also featured an integrated Adobe Flash Player (with an internal whitelist allowing Flash applets on Facebook websites to load automatically, bypassing all other security controls requiring user activation).[18]

Internet Explorer 11 remains available alongside Microsoft Edge on Windows 10 for compatibility purposes; it remains nearly identical to the Windows 8.1 version and does not use the Microsoft Edge engine as was previously announced.[citation needed]

Edge integrates with Microsoft's online platforms to provide voice control, search functionality, and dynamic information related to searches within the address bar. Users can make annotations to web pages that can be stored and shared with OneDrive, and can save HTML and MHTML pages to their computers. It also integrates with the "Reading List" function and provides a "Reading Mode" that strips unnecessary formatting from pages to improve their legibility.

On April 29, 2022, Microsoft announced integrated VPN support for Microsoft Edge. There will be a free version of the integrated Edge VPN available, but it will be limited to 1 GB of data transfer.[19] Support for the built-in VPN was added in May 2022. The VPN service called Edge Secure Network is powered by Cloudflare.[20]

In August 2019, support for the ePUB file format was dropped.[21]

Edge for Business

Starting with Edge version 116, Microsoft released Microsoft Edge for Business, a new business mode for Edge that enables end users to completely separate work and personal browsing into dedicated browser windows, in addition to other features aimed at admins.[22]

Release channels

On April 8, 2019, Microsoft announced the introduction of four preview channels: Canary, Dev, Beta, and Stable, and launched the Canary and Dev channels that same day with the first preview builds for those channels of the new Edge. Microsoft collectively calls the Canary, Dev, and Beta channels the "Microsoft Edge insider channels".[23] As a result, Edge updates were decoupled from new versions of Windows. Major versions of Edge Stable are now scheduled for release every four weeks, closely following Chromium version releases.

Surf (video game)

In May 2020, an update to Microsoft Edge added the Surf video game, where players control a surfer attempting to evade obstacles and collect powerups. It is similar to Google Chrome's Dinosaur Game and is accessible from the browser's offline error page and can also be accessed by entering edge://surf in the address bar. The game features three game modes (classic, time trial, and slalom), has character customization, and supports keyboard, mouse, touch, and gamepad controls. Its gameplay has been compared to the 1991 Microsoft video game SkiFree.

In 2021, Surf was updated with limited-time seasonal theming resembling SkiFree. Instead of surfing, the player skis down a mountain while being chased by a yeti.

Development

In November 2017, Microsoft released ports of Edge for Android and iOS.[3][4] The apps feature integration and synchronization with the desktop version on Windows PCs. Due to platform restrictions and other factors, these ports did not use the same layout engine as the current desktop version at the time (Edge Legacy) and instead used OS-native Blink and WebKit-based engines.[24]

Codenamed "Anaheim", on December 6, 2018, Microsoft announced its intent to base Edge on the Chromium source code, using the same browser engine as Google Chrome but with enhancements developed by Microsoft. It was also announced that there will be versions of Edge available for older versions of Windows, including Windows 7, Windows 8, and Windows 8.1, and macOS, plus that all versions will be updated on a more frequent basis.[25][26] According to Microsoft executive Joe Belfiore, the decision for the change came after the CEO Satya Nadella told the team in 2017 that the product needed to be better and pushed for replacing its in-house rendering engine with an open source one.[27]

On April 8, 2019, the first builds of the new Edge for Windows were released to the public.[28] On May 20, 2019, the first preview builds of Edge for macOS were released to the public, marking the first time in 13 years that a Microsoft browser was available on the Mac platform.[29] The last time a Microsoft browser was available on the Mac platform was Internet Explorer for Mac, which was withdrawn in January 2006.

On June 18, 2019, on an r/IAmA post on Reddit, an Edge developer stated that it was theoretically possible for a Linux version to be developed in the future, but no work had actually started on that possibility.[30] On June 19, 2019, Microsoft made Edge available on old Windows versions for testing.[31] Then on August 20, 2019, Microsoft made its first beta build of Edge available for Windows and macOS.[32] At Microsoft Ignite, Microsoft released an updated version of the Edge logo.[33]

The new Edge was released on January 15, 2020, and was gradually rolled out to all Windows 10 users.[34][35] The new Edge was also rolled out to Windows users via Windows Update. Windows Vista and earlier were not supported at the time Edge started supporting older Windows versions.

On September 22, 2020, Microsoft announced that a beta version of Edge for Linux would be available in preview form in October 2020. This comes after the company announced in November 2019 that a Linux version would be developed, and confirmed in May 2020 that the Linux version was in development. The first preview build for Linux was released on October 20, 2020.

Full support for the new Edge on older Windows versions was scheduled to end on January 15, 2022, but was later extended to January 15, 2023.

On April 29, 2022, Microsoft announced integrated VPN support for Microsoft Edge, coming in line with this privacy feature with Chrome and Firefox. There will be a free version of the integrated Edge VPN available, but it is limited to 1 GB of data transfer.

On November 14, 2024, Microsoft announced that it will drop support for CPUs that lack the SSE3 instruction set with the release of Edge version 128.

As of March 2, 2025, the Edge Canary channel has begun automatically disabling Manifest V2 extensions, notably impacting the uBlock Origin extension. However, thus far, they can be manually turned back on, and this doesn't affect the Dev, Beta, and Stable channels. This move, part of the transition to Manifest V3 (first imposed by Google in Google Chrome and subsequently in Chromium), has sparked notable debate among privacy advocates and users.[citation needed]

Performance

Early benchmarks of the EdgeHTML engine—included in the first beta release of Edge in Windows 10 Build 10049—had drastically better JavaScript performance due to the new Chakra than MSHTML (Trident) 7 using the older Chakra in Internet Explorer 11, with similar performance to Google Chrome 41 and Mozilla Firefox 37. In the SunSpider benchmark, Edge performed faster than other browsers, while in other benchmarks it operated slower than Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox and Opera.

Later benchmarks conducted with the version included in 10122 showed significant performance improvement compared to both IE11 and Edge back in 10049. According to Microsoft's benchmark result, this iteration of Edge performed better than both Chrome and Firefox in Google's Octane 2.0 and Apple's Jetstream benchmark

In July 2015, Edge scored 377 out of 555 points on the HTML5test. Chrome 44 and Firefox 42 scored 479 and 434 respectively, while Internet Explorer 11 scored 312.

In August 2015, Microsoft released Windows 10 Build 10532 to insiders, which included Edge 21.10532.0. This beta version scored 445 out of 555 points on the HTML5test.

In July 2016, with the release of Windows 10 Build 14390 to insiders, the HTML5 test score of the browser's development version was 460 out of 555 points. Chrome 51 scored 497, Firefox 47 scored 456, and Safari 9.1 scored 370.

Reception

Microsoft's switch to Blink as Edge's engine has faced mixed reception. The move increases the consistency of web platform compatibility between major browsers. For this reason, the move has attracted criticism, as it reduces diversity in the overall web browser market and increases the influence of Google on the overall browser market by Microsoft ceding its independently developed browser engine.[citation needed]

Edge sends the images that the users view online to Microsoft servers by default, although Microsoft has stated that it encrypts images before transfer. According to Douglas J. Leith, a computer science professor from Trinity College, Dublin, Microsoft Edge is among the least private browsers. He explained, "from a privacy perspective Microsoft Edge and Yandex are much more worrisome than the other browsers studied. Both send identifiers that are linked to the device hardware and so persist across fresh browser installs and can also be used to link different apps running on the same device. Edge sends the hardware UUID of the device to Microsoft, a strong and enduring identifier than cannot be easily changed or deleted." In response, a spokesperson from Microsoft Edge explained that it uses user diagnostic data to improve the product.

In June 2020, users criticized newly released Windows updates that installed Edge and imported some user data from Chrome and Firefox before obtaining user permission. Microsoft responded by stating that if a user rejects giving Edge data import permission, then Edge will delete the imported data. However, if the browser crashes before the user has a chance to reject the import, then the already imported data will not be cleared. The Verge called these "spyware tactics" and called Edge's "first run experience" a "dark pattern".

Microsoft uses proprietary URL handlers in Windows 10 and 11 to redirect URLs accessed via system search functions to Edge, deliberately ignoring the user's choice of default browser. In November 2021, a patch was released to frustrate a workaround employed by the third-party tool "EdgeDeflector", with a Microsoft spokesperson stating that search in the Windows shell is an "end-to-end customer experience" that is not designed to be modified. The developer of EdgeDeflector, Daniel Aleksandersen, called this "clearly a user-hostile move that sees Windows compromise its own product usability in order to make it more difficult to use competing products."

In November 2021, Microsoft announced that it would display integrated advertising for the buy now, pay later service Zip Pay in Edge during online purchases eligible for financing via the service, and allow users to link their Microsoft account to expedite registration for the service. Microsoft claims that it "does not collect a fee for connecting users to loan providers." This decision was met with criticism from users and the press, arguing that the feature was added as bloat.

Controversy

In December 2021, Microsoft began testing the display of in-browser prompts on the Google Chrome website to discourage downloading the browser. Similar prompts intended to discourage Google Chrome downloads also appeared when searching for "Chrome" or "browser" on Bing. In February 2023, users reported seeing large banner advertisements for Microsoft Edge on the Chrome download page, a move that was criticized for deceptively altering part of Google's official website. In October 2023, Microsoft began testing the display of a sidebar containing a survey related to Chrome when the browser is downloaded.

Gallery

References

  1. ↑ "New Microsoft Edge to replace Microsoft Edge Legacy with April's Windows 10 Update Tuesday Release". Microsoft. February 12, 2021. Archived from the original on March 11, 2021. 
  2. ↑ Salter, Jim (March 11, 2021). "Microsoft Edge is dead--long live Microsoft Edge". Ars Technica. Archived from the original on March 11, 2021. 
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Belfiore, Joe (October 5, 2017). "Announcing Microsoft Edge for iOS and Android, Microsoft Launcher". Windows Blogs. Microsoft. Archived from the original on October 7, 2017. 
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Belfiore, Joe (November 30, 2017). "Microsoft Edge now available for iOS and Android". Windows Blogs. Microsoft. Archived from the original on March 8, 2018. 
  5. ↑ "Microsoft Edge and Chromium Open Source: Our Intent". Microsoft Edge Team. December 6, 2018. Archived from the original on April 8, 2020. 
  6. ↑ "Introducing the first Microsoft Edge preview builds for macOS". Microsoft Edge Blog. May 20, 2019. Archived from the original on May 27, 2022. 
  7. ↑ Foley, Mary Jo. "Microsoft's Chromium-based Edge browser to be generally available January 15, 2020". ZDNET. 
  8. ↑ Tung, Liam. "Windows 10: Microsoft begins automatically pushing Chromium Edge to users". ZDNet. 
  9. ↑ "Browser Market Share Worldwide Feb 2022 - Feb 2023". StatCounter. Retrieved March 22, 2023. 
  10. ↑ Warren, Tom (March 24, 2015). "Microsoft relegates Internet Explorer to a 'legacy engine' to make way for new browser". The Verge. 
  11. ↑ "Microsoft swallows its pride and releases new Chrome-based browser". Yahoo Finance. January 15, 2020. Archived from the original on November 17, 2021. 
  12. ↑ Shankland, Stephen (November 30, 2020). "Google is loosening its grip on Chrome's foundations, but outside allies still help it control the web itself". CNET. Archived from the original on November 17, 2021. 
  13. ↑ "How to Enable Internet Explorer Mode in Windows 11". PCMag. January 25, 2022. 
  14. ↑ "Track and analyze Chrome extensions/mobile apps". Chrome Stats. Retrieved September 21, 2025. 
  15. ↑ Everything You Need to Know About Microsoft Edge Browser Extensions
  16. ↑ "Reinventing search with a new AI-powered Microsoft Bing and Edge, your copilot for the web". Official Microsoft Blog. February 7, 2023. 
  17. ↑ Microsoft Edge: Improved, But Has New Risks
  18. ↑ Microsoft Edge lets Facebook run Flash code behind users' backs
  19. ↑ Microsoft Edge announces free (up to 1 gig) VPN integration in a bid to enhance online privacy and compete with Chrome
  20. ↑ Microsoft Edge’s Free VPN: Here’s all you need to know
  21. ↑ "Microsoft Edge will no longer support ePub file format for e-books" (in en). Windows Central. 2019-08-23. Archived from the original on August 3, 2020. Retrieved 2019-11-22. 
  22. ↑ "Microsoft Edge for Business". Microsoft Learn. May 6, 2024. 
  23. ↑ "What to expect in the new Microsoft Edge Insider Channels". Microsoft Edge Dev Blog. April 8, 2019. Archived from the original on June 4, 2019. 
  24. ↑ "Microsoft Edge for iPhone and Android is out of beta". Engadget. November 30, 2017. Archived from the original on December 6, 2018. 
  25. ↑ Warren, Tom (December 6, 2018). "Microsoft is rebuilding its Edge browser on Chrome and bringing it to the Mac". The Verge. Vox Media. Archived from the original on December 6, 2018. 
  26. ↑ Foley, Mary Jo. "Microsoft's Edge to morph into a Chromium-based, cross-platform browser" (in en). ZDNet. Archived from the original on January 20, 2019. 
  27. ↑ "Microsoft's Joe Belfiore opens up about difficult Edge decisions". May 6, 2019. Archived from the original on October 18, 2020. Retrieved October 14, 2020. 
  28. ↑ Protalinski, Emil (April 8, 2019). "Microsoft launches first Chromium Edge builds for Windows 10". Venturebeat. Archived from the original on June 15, 2020. Retrieved April 8, 2019. 
  29. ↑ Foley, Mary Jo (May 20, 2019). "Microsoft releases first Chromium-based Edge preview for MacOS". ZDNet. Archived from the original on May 20, 2019. Retrieved May 22, 2019. 
  30. ↑ Cimpanu, Catalin. "Microsoft Edge Reddit AMA: Edge might come to Linux" (in en). ZDNet. Archived from the original on June 14, 2019. Retrieved 2019-06-18. 
  31. ↑ Warren, Tom (June 19, 2019). "Microsoft's Chromium Edge browser now available on Windows 7 and Windows 8". The Verge. Archived from the original on June 20, 2019. Retrieved June 20, 2019. 
  32. ↑ Warren, Tom (August 20, 2019). "Microsoft's Chromium Edge browser moves closer to release with new beta version". The Verge. Archived from the original on September 2, 2019. Retrieved September 2, 2019. 
  33. ↑ Meisenzahl, Mary. "It looks like Microsoft is finally ditching the Internet Explorer branding for good with a revamped logo that looks like a wave". Business Insider. Archived from the original on November 6, 2019. Retrieved 2019-11-06. 
  34. ↑ Warren, Tom (2019-11-04). "Microsoft's Edge Chromium browser will launch on January 15th with a new logo" (in en). The Verge. Archived from the original on November 6, 2019. Retrieved 2019-11-06. 
  35. ↑ Pflug, Klye (January 15, 2020). "Upgrading to the new Microsoft Edge". Windows Blogs. Archived from the original on June 4, 2020. Retrieved January 16, 2020. 

External links

Smallwikipedialogo
Wikipedia (article: Microsoft Edge)
This page uses Creative Commons Licensed content from Wikipedia (view authors).