Current Global Usage and Market Share
As of early 2025, Internet Explorer holds less than 0.5% of global browser market share, according to StatCounter data, with most corporate and legacy systems already migrated to Microsoft Edge or other modern browsers. The browser is no longer preinstalled on Windows 11, and its presence on consumer devices continues to decline rapidly. For most users, the question is no longer whether they use it, but whether any supported websites still render correctly in it. Global browser market share data confirms that IE is functionally obsolete for everyday web browsing.
Enterprise usage is the last major holdout, with some large organizations running IE 11 inside virtualized environments or compatibility modes for legacy line-of-business applications. Microsoft has provided extended support paths through specific enterprise channels, but these are time-limited and tied to migration roadmaps. Even in these environments, internal teams are actively moving to Edge with IE Mode, which preserves compatibility while using a modern rendering engine. Microsoft Edge IE Mode documentation outlines the supported enterprise transition path.
Microsoft's Official End of Support and Timeline
End of Life for Internet Explorer 11
Microsoft officially ended support for Internet Explorer 11 on June 15, 2022, ceasing security updates, technical assistance, and cumulative patches for the browser. This date marks the definitive end of IE as a supported product on most Windows 10 and Windows 11 editions, leaving it exposed to unpatched vulnerabilities. The company has since redirected all users to Microsoft Edge, which includes an Internet Explorer compatibility mode for specific legacy sites. Microsoft lifecycle announcement details the exact end-of-support terms and affected editions.
Enterprise Extended Support and Exceptions
Certain volume licensing agreements and specialized Windows 10 editions, such as IoT Enterprise, received extended support for IE 11 beyond the general cutoff, but these exceptions are expiring or have already expired. Microsoft has provided tools like the IE Mode Enterprise Policy to help organizations phase out IE usage in a controlled way. The company now treats IE as a deprecated component, and future Windows updates may remove its binaries entirely from the operating system image. Microsoft Edge official page describes the default browser policies and the rationale behind the shift.
What Replaced Internet Explorer and How It Works
Microsoft Edge and Chromium Engine
Microsoft Edge replaced Internet Explorer as the default browser on Windows, built on the Chromium open-source engine and offering modern web standards support, faster performance, and integrated security features. Edge includes a dedicated IE Mode that uses the Trident engine only for specific enterprise sites, while rendering all other pages with the modern Chromium backend. This hybrid approach allows organizations to retire IE gradually without breaking critical internal applications. Edge features and IE Mode overview explains how the compatibility layer works in practice.
Other Browsers and Compatibility Shifts
Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Apple Safari, and Opera have all dropped or never supported Internet Explorer-specific rendering quirks, accelerating the move away from legacy IE-only web applications. Modern web development frameworks and standards no longer account for IE's outdated engine, meaning new sites and services are increasingly incompatible with it. Users attempting to access newer platforms may encounter warnings, degraded layouts, or blocked functionality when using IE.