| Internet Explorer 11 | |
| Logo Size: | 125 |
| Developer: | Microsoft |
| Latest Release Version: | 11.0 (11.0.9600.22069) |
| Latest Release Date: | [1] |
| Operating System: | Windows 7 SP1 Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 Windows Embedded 8 Standard Windows Server 2012 |
| Included With: | Windows 8.1 Windows RT Windows Server 2012 R2 Windows 10 Windows Server 2016 Windows Server 2019 Windows Server 2022 |
| Replaces: | Internet Explorer 10 (2012) |
| Engine: | MSHTML v8.0, Chakra |
| Platform: | IA-32, x64, and ARM |
| Replaced By: | Microsoft Edge (2015) |
| Size: | 28–53 MB |
| License: | Proprietary, requires a Windows license[2] |
Internet Explorer 11 (IE11) is the eleventh and final version of the Internet Explorer web browser. It was initially released on October 17, 2013, and was later released for older Windows versions on November 7, 2013. It is the successor to Internet Explorer 10, released the previous year, and was the original, default browser before Microsoft Edge was introduced. On April 16, 2019, Internet Explorer 11 was made available to Windows Server 2012 and Windows Embedded 8 Standard as the final expansion of Internet Explorer 11 availability.[3] [4] Internet Explorer 11, like its predecessor, is not available for earlier versions of Windows and Windows Server.
On January 12, 2016, Microsoft adjusted their product lifecycle policies to only support the most recent version of Internet Explorer offered for any given version of Windows.[5] Support for Internet Explorer 11, now regarded as an "OS component", is bound to the version of the Windows it is installed on. Thus, Microsoft provides updates only to currently supported versions of Windows. This includes Windows LTSC (formerly LTSB), and supported Windows Server versions, which will continue to receive IE11 updates until their respective end-of-support dates. The exception to this is the Windows Semi-Annual Channel (SAC). For SAC versions of Windows, Internet Explorer 11 support ended on June 15, 2022, Internet Explorer was permanently disabled on February 14, 2023, and any remaining icons or shortcuts were due to be removed on June 13, 2023. However, on May 19, 2023, various organizations disapproved, leading Microsoft to withdraw the change.[6] [7] IE11 can still be accessed in some capacity with a third-party method.
IE Mode, a feature of Microsoft Edge, enables Edge to display web pages using Internet Explorer 11's Trident layout engine and other core components.[8] Through IE Mode, the underlying technology of Internet Explorer 11 partially exists on Windows that do not support Internet Explorer as a proper application.[9] Microsoft has announced support for IE Mode through at least 2029, with a one-year advance notice prior to retiring this variant of IE11.[6]
IE11 features redesigned developer tools,[10] support for WebGL,[11] enhanced scaling for high DPI screens,[12] prerender and prefetch.[13] After launch IE11 got support for HTTP/2.[14] [15] In addition, IE11 supports Full Screen and Orientation APIs, CSS border image support, JavaScript enhancements, DOM mutation observers, Web Cryptography API, video text track support, encrypted media support and an improved HTML editor. IE11 uses Transport Layer Security v1.2 as the default protocol for secure connections and deprecates RC4 cipher suite.[16]
The "document mode" feature in the developer toolset (F12) allows simulating the rendering behaviour of Internet Explorer versions 5 to 10 to facilitate testing pages for compatibility.[17]
Internet Explorer 11 for Windows RT does not support Java and other add-ons.[18]
document.all, meaning that code that checks for its presence will not detect it, but code that actually uses it will continue to work.[19] Additionally, the attachEvent proprietary API has been removed.In a November 2013 review by SitePoint, IE11 scored better than Google Chrome 30 and Firefox 26 in WebKit's SunSpider test and Google's WebGL test. It tied with Chrome for fastest in Microsoft's "fish aquarium" benchmark for WebGL and came last in Google's V8 performance benchmark. As a result of the speed improvements, the reviewer said "if you switched to Chrome for speed alone, you're now using the wrong browser." IE11 was also observed to use less memory with multiple tabs open than contemporary versions of Chrome and Firefox.
In August 2015, SitePoint again benchmarked IE11 in its review for Microsoft Edge, where Edge 12, Chrome 44 and Firefox 39 were also present. IE11 came last in Apple's JetStream test (which replaced SunSpider) and Google's Octane test (which replaces V8) but it came second in Microsoft's "fish aquarium" test, after Edge.[25]
Though an internal build of IE11 was leaked on March 25, 2013,[26] its first preview version was not formally released until June 2013, during the Build 2013 conference.[27] On July 25, 2013, Microsoft released the developer preview of Internet Explorer 11.[28]
| Name | Version | Release date | Works on | New features | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Windows 8.1 Preview | WebGL, CSS border image, improved JavaScript performance, major update to Internet Explorer Developer Tools, hardware-accelerated JPEG decoding, closed captioning, HTML5 full screen, HTML5 prerender, HTML5 prefetch, Windows 8.1 only: cryptography (WebCrypto), adaptive bitrate streaming (Media Source Extensions), Encrypted Media Extensions, SPDY v3 | ||||
| Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 | |||||
| Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 | Performance improvements | ||||
| Windows 7, Windows 8.1, Windows 10, Windows Server 2016, Windows Server 2019, and Windows Server 2022 | Uses the same build number as the Release Preview. Internet Explorer is set up to run websites, based on legacy HTML technologies, which are not, or improperly, supported in Microsoft Edge. | ||||
| Windows Server 2012 R2, Windows Server 2012, Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1, and Windows Server 2008 SP2 |
|
While there were no other releases of Internet Explorer, an update was released on April 2, 2014, which added Enterprise Mode, improved developer tools, improved support for WebGL and ECMAScript 5.1.
With the release of Windows 11, Windows Server Insider Build 22463 and later,[30] Internet Explorer is no longer preinstalled on any new devices (the application that is, while its core component is due to Microsoft's integration of IE in Windows), but users can still launch Internet Explorer from the Control Panel's browser toolbar settings on or via the PowerShell. Microsoft Edge is the only preinstalled browser in the operating system. An Internet Explorer mode is however provided in Microsoft Edge to run legacy websites.[31] On February 14, 2023, Microsoft permanently disabled IE11 on the Windows Semi-Annual Channel (SAC) as part of a Microsoft Edge update released on February 14, 2023.[7] IE11 visual references, such as the IE11 icons on the Start Menu and taskbar, were set to be removed from Windows SAC by the June 2023 Windows security update ("B" release) on June 13, 2023, however this decision has been reverted.