 | |
 Screenshot of Internet Explorer 9 | |
| Developer(s) | Microsoft |
|---|---|
| Initial release | March 14, 2011; 14 years ago (2011-03-14) |
| Preview release | None [±] |
| Engines | MSHTML 5.0,Chakra (32-bit),JScript (64-bit) |
| Operating system | Windows Vista SP2 Windows Server 2008 SP2 Windows 7 Windows Server 2008 R2 Windows Phone 7.5[1] |
| Predecessor | Internet Explorer 8 (2009) |
| Successor | Internet Explorer 10 (2012) |
| Available in | 93 languages[2] |
| Type | Web browser Feed aggregator[3] |
| License | Proprietary,requires Windows license[4] |
| Website | www |
Internet Explorer 9 orIE9 (officiallyWindows Internet Explorer 9) is the ninth major version of theInternet Explorerweb browser forWindows. It was released byMicrosoft on March 14, 2011, as the successor toInternet Explorer 8. Microsoft released Internet Explorer 9 as a major out-of-band version that was not tied to the release schedule of any particular version of Windows, unlike previous versions. It is the first version of Internet Explorer not to be bundled with a Windows operating system, although some OEMs have installed it with Windows on their PCs.[5] It was the last version to be calledWindows Internet Explorer. The software was rebranded simply asInternet Explorer starting with the release ofInternet Explorer 10.
Internet Explorer 9 supportsECMAScript 5 (ES5), severalCSS 3 properties,[6] and embeddedICC v2 or v4color profiles support viaWindows Color System, and has improvedJavaScript performance. It was the last of the majorweb browsers to implement support forScalable Vector Graphics (SVG).[7][8] It also featureshardware-accelerated graphics rendering usingDirect2D, hardware-accelerated text rendering usingDirectWrite, hardware-accelerated video rendering usingMedia Foundation, imaging support provided byWindows Imaging Component, and high fidelity printing powered by theXML Paper Specification (XPS) print pipeline.[9] Internet Explorer 9 also supports the HTML media tags<video> and<audio> and theWeb Open Font Format (WOFF).[10]
Development of Internet Explorer 9 began shortly afterInternet Explorer 8 was released. Microsoft began taking features suggestions through Microsoft Connect soon after Internet Explorer 8 was released.[11] The Internet Explorer team focused on improving support and performance forHTML5,CSS3,SVG,XHTML, JavaScript, hardware acceleration, and the user interface featuring agility and "a clean new design".[12]
Microsoft first announced Internet Explorer 9 atPDC 2009 and spoke mainly about how it takes advantage of hardware acceleration inDirectX to improve the performance ofweb applications and improve the quality ofweb typography.
Later, Microsoft announced that they had joined the W3C'sSVG Working Group, which sparked speculation that Internet Explorer 9 will support the SVGW3C recommendation.[13] This was proven to be true atMIX 10, where they demonstrated support for basic SVG markup and improved support for HTML5. They also announced that they would increase the support greatly by the time the first Internet Explorer 9 Beta was released. The Internet Explorer team also introduced the new JavaScript engine for 32-bit Internet Explorer 9, codenamed Chakra, which usesJust-in-time compilation to execute JavaScript as native code.[14][15][16] In mid-September 2011, theAcid3 test was revised to remove a few "antiquated and unusual" tests, and as a result, IE9 now passes the test with a score of 100/100.[17]
At MIX 10, the first Internet Explorer 9 Platform Preview was released, which featured support for CSS3 and SVG, a newJavaScript engine calledChakra, and a score of 55/100 on the Acid3 test, up from 20/100 forInternet Explorer 8. On May 5, 2010, the second Internet Explorer 9 Platform Preview was released, which featured a score of 68/100 on the Acid3 test and faster performance on theWebKit SunSpider JavaScript benchmark than the first Internet Explorer 9 Platform Preview. On June 23, 2010, the third Internet Explorer 9 Platform Preview was released, which featured a score of 83/100 on the Acid3 test and a faster JavaScript engine than the second Internet Explorer 9 Platform Preview. The third Internet Explorer 9 Platform Preview also includes support for audio, video, and canvas tags, andWOFF. On August 4, 2010, the fourth Internet Explorer 9 Platform Preview was released, which features a score of 95/100 on the Acid3 test and a faster JavaScript engine than the third Internet Explorer 9 Platform Preview. On September 15, 2010, the Internet Explorer 9 Public Beta was released alongside Platform Preview 5, featuring a new user interface. In contrast to the previews, the Beta replaces any previously installed version of Internet Explorer. The sixth Internet Explorer 9 Platform Preview was released on October 28, 2010, and includes support for CSS 2D transforms and HTML semantic elements.[6] The seventh Internet Explorer 9 Platform Preview was released on November 17, 2010, and features better JavaScript performance.[18]
These previews were not full builds of Internet Explorer 9, as they were for testing the latest version of theMSHTML (Trident) browser engine. They were for web developers to send feedback on the improvements made, functioned in parallel with any other installed browsers, and were previews of the renderer technology only, containing minimalistic user interfaces and lacking traditional interface elements such as an address bar and navigation buttons.[19] Microsoft updated these previews approximately every eight weeks.
On November 23, 2010, two updates for the Internet Explorer 9 Public Beta were released. KB2448827 brings improvements to reliability and fixes stability issues from the previous beta release. There are not much details of resolved issues disclosed by Microsoft. Moreover, KB2452648 resolves the in-built feedback issue with Internet Explorer 9 and the latest version of Windows Live Sign-in Assistant.[20] These updates can be fetched fromWindows Update or the Microsoft Download Center website.[21][22] On the same day, Internet Explorer build 9.0.8027.6000 based on Internet Explorer 9 Platform Preview 7 was leaked.[23] On February 10, 2011, the Internet Explorer 9Release Candidate and Platform Preview 8 were released. The Release Candidate version featured improved performance, a Tracking Protection feature, a refined UI, support for more web standards, use of hardware accelerated graphics, and other improvements.[24][25]
The final version of Internet Explorer 9 was publicly released during theSouth by Southwest (SXSW) Interactive conference in Austin, Texas, on March 14, 2011.[26]
| Name | Build | Release Date | Acid3 Score | New Features |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Platform Preview 1 | 1.9.7745.6019 | March 16, 2010[27] | 55/100[28] | Support forCSS3 andSVG and a newJavaScript engine calledChakra. |
| Platform Preview 2 | 1.9.7766.6000 | May 5, 2010[29] | 68/100[30] | Better JavaScript performance. |
| Platform Preview 3 | 1.9.7874.6000 | June 23, 2010[31] | 83/100[32] | audio,video, andcanvas tags, andWOFF. |
| Platform Preview 4 | 1.9.7916.6000 | August 4, 2010[33] | 95/100[34] | JavaScript engine integrated into the core browser components, a shared DOM between the browser and the script engine based on ECMAScript5, and a highly interactive and integrated SVG.[35] |
| Platform Preview 5 | 1.9.7930.16406 | September 15, 2010[36] | New icon. | |
| Beta | 9.0.7930.16406 | New user interface, download manager, and pinned sites with jumplist functionality. | ||
| Platform Preview 6 | 1.9.8006.6000 | October 28, 2010[37] | CSS 2D transforms and HTML semantic tags.[6] | |
| Platform Preview 7 | 1.9.8023.6000 | November 17, 2010[38] | Better JavaScript performance. | |
| Platform Preview 8 | 1.9.8080.16413 | February 10, 2011[39] | Performance, interoperability enhancements, and support for theW3C Geolocation API. | |
| Release Candidate | 9.0.8080.16413 | Improved performance,InPrivate Filtering renamed toTracking Protection, a refined UI, support for more web standards, the option to add a new tab row, and other improvements. | ||
| RTW | 9.0.8112.16421 | March 14, 2011[26] | 100/100[17] | Improved performance, improved Tracking Protection, and the option to pin multiple targets per page. Last version forWindows Vista andWindows Server 2008. |
Support for Internet Explorer 9 on most Windows versions ended on January 12, 2016, when Microsoft began requiring customers to use the latest version of Internet Explorer available for each Windows version.[40] For versions of Windows where Internet Explorer 9 was the final version of Internet Explorer available, support ended when support for that version of Windows ended.[41] On January 14, 2020, Microsoft released the final regular IE9 update. However, IE9 (viaWindows Server 2008) is eligible for the paid ESU (Extended Security Updates) and Premium Assurance programs. ESU security updates from Microsoft for IE9 were released until January 10, 2023 (January 9, 2024, forAzure customers) and Premium Assurance security updates will continue until January 13, 2026. Following which, only IE11 (the final version of Internet Explorer) will continue to be supported in any capacity.
Internet Explorer 9 includes significant alterations to its user interface when compared with previous versions. These include:
Internet Explorer 9 (32-bit) features a faster JavaScript engine than Internet Explorer 8's, internally known asChakra. Chakra has a separate background thread for compiling JavaScript. Windows runs that thread in parallel on a separate core when one is available. Compiling in the background enables users to keep interacting with webpages while Internet Explorer 9 generates even faster code. By running separately in the background, this process can take advantage of modern multi-core machines.[45]
In Microsoft's preliminary SunSpider benchmarks for the third 32-bit Internet Explorer 9 Platform Preview, it outperformed the Internet Explorer 8 engine by a factor of 10 and also outperformed the newest Firefox 4.0 pre-release.[46] Microsoft provided information that its new JavaScript engine usesdead code elimination optimization for faster performance, which included a small section of code in the SunSpider test as dead code.[47] Robert Sayre, a Mozilla developer investigated this further, showing that Internet Explorer 9 Preview 3's dead code elimination had bugs, providing test cases exposing these bugs resulting in wrong compilation.[48]
After its final release, 32-bit Internet Explorer 9 has been tested to be the leading mainstream browser in the SunSpider performance test.[49]
The engine significantly improves support for ECMA-262:ECMAScript Language Specification standard, including features new to the recently finalized Fifth Edition of ECMA-262 (often abbreviated ES5).[50] The Internet Explorer 9 browser release scored only 3 faults[original research?] from 10440 tests in theTest262 Ecmascript conformance test (Ver. 0.6.2 5-Apr-2011) created byEcma International.
The 64-bit version of Internet Explorer 9, which is not the default browser even on 64-bit systems, does not have the JIT compiler[14][51] and performs up to 4 times slower.[52]
DOM improvements include:
getComputedStyle from DOM StyleDOMContentLoadedInternet Explorer 9 has improvedCascading Style Sheets (CSS) support. The Internet Explorer 9 implementation report, which was created using Internet Explorer 9 Beta, shows Internet Explorer 9 passing 97.7% of all tests on theW3C CSS 2.1 test suite.[53] This is the highest pass rate amongst CSS 2.1 implementation reports submitted to W3C.[54]
CSS3 improvements include support for the following modules:
Internet Explorer 9 includes support for the HTML media tags video and audio.
Theaudio tag will include native support for theMP3 andAAC codecs, while thevideo tag will natively supportH.264/MPEG-4 AVC.[63] Support for other video formats, such asWebM, require third-party plugins.[63]
Internet Explorer 9 includes support for thecanvas element.[64]
The first Internet Explorer 9 Platform Preview has support for:[65]
<object>, full .svg documents<svg>,<defs>,<use>,<g>,<image><circle>,<ellipse>,<rect>,<line>,<polyline>,<polygon>,<path>translate,skewX,skewY,scale,rotate[66]SVG elements that are supported in the Platform Preview are fully implemented. Elements that exist in the Platform Preview have corresponding SVGDOM support and can be styled with CSS/presentation attributes.
The final build of Internet Explorer 9 also supports:
<embed>,<iframe>,<img>, css image, .svgzInternet Explorer was the first browser to support web fonts through the@font-face rule, but only supported theEmbedded OpenType (EOT) format, and lacked support for parts of the CSS3 fonts module.[67] Internet Explorer 9 completed support for the CSS3 fonts module and addedWOFF support. It is the first version of Internet Explorer to supportTTF fonts, but will only use them if none of their embedding permission bits are set.[68]
Internet Explorer 9 implements the new W3C Navigation Timings format. Microsoft has been a part of creating this format during the development of Internet Explorer 9.
Internet Explorer 9 includes aTracking Protection feature which improves upon Internet Explorer 8'sInPrivate Filtering. Internet Explorer 8's InPrivate Filtering blocked third-party content using an XML list which had to be imported or automatically built a list by observing third-party servers that users kept interacting with as they browsed the web, and once a server showed up more than a set number of times, InPrivate Filtering would block future connections to it[69]
Internet Explorer 9 supports two methods of tracking protection. The primary method is through the use of Tracking Protection Lists (TPL)[70] which are now supplied byinternet privacy-related organizations or companies. Tracking Protection by default remains on once enabled, unlike InPrivate Filtering which had to be enabled each time Internet Explorer 8 started. When a TPL is selected, Internet Explorer 9 blocks or allows third-party URI downloads based on rules in the TPL. Users can create their personal TPL's orselect a TPL supplied by a third partyArchived 2011-03-26 at theWayback Machine.
The other method is the use of aDo Not Track header and DOM property.[71] Browser requests from Internet Explorer 9 include this header whenever a TPL is selected. Websites that follow this header should not deliver tracking mechanisms in their websites. At the moment following this header is a voluntary code of conduct but this method could in future be enforced by government legislation.
These tracking protection methods were submitted to W3C for standardization.[71]
Internet Explorer 9 uses layered protection against malware. It uses technical measures to protect its memory like theDEP/NSX protection, Safe Exception handlers (SafeSEH) andASLR protection used in Internet Explorer 8.
In addition to those existing forms ofmemory protection, Internet Explorer 9 now opts-in to SEHOP (Structured Exception Handler Overwrite Protection) which works by validating the integrity of the exception handling chain before dispatching exceptions. This helps ensure that structured exception handling cannot be used as an exploit vector, even when running outdated browser add-ons that have not been recompiled to take advantage of SafeSEH.[72]
In addition, Internet Explorer 9 is compiled with the new C++ compiler provided with Visual Studio 2010. This compiler includes a feature known as Enhanced GS, also known asStack Buffer Overrun Detection, which helps prevent stack buffer overruns by detecting stack corruption and avoiding execution if such corruption is encountered.[72]
Internet Explorer 8 used SmartScreen technology, which, according to Microsoft, was successful against phishing or other malicious sites and in blocking ofsocially engineered malware.[73] In Internet Explorer 9, the protection against malware downloads is extended with SmartScreen Application Reputation.[74] This warns downloaders if they are downloading an application without a safe reputation from a site that does not have a safe reputation.
In late 2010, the results of browser malware testing undertaken by NSS labs were published.[75] The study looked at the browser's capability to prevent users followingsocially engineered links of a malicious nature and downloading malicious software. It did not test the browser's ability to block malicious web pages or code.
According to NSS, Internet Explorer 9 blocked 99% of malware downloads compared to 90% for Internet Explorer 8 that does not have SmartScreen Application Reputation feature.In early 2010, similar tests gave Internet Explorer 8 an 85% passing grade, the 5% improvement being attributed to "continued investments in improved data intelligence".[76] By comparison, the same research showed that Chrome 6, Firefox 3.6 and Safari 5, which all rely on Google's Safe Browsing Service, scored 6%, 19% and 11%, respectively. Opera 10 scored 0%, failing to "detect any of the socially engineered malware samples".[77]
Manufacturers of other browsers criticized the test, focusing upon the lack of transparency of URLs tested and the lack of consideration of layered security additional to the browser, withGoogle commenting that "The report itself clearly states that it does not evaluate browser security related to vulnerabilities in plug-ins or the browsers themselves",[78] andOpera commenting that the results appeared "odd that they received no results from our data providers" and that "social malware protection is not an indicator of overall browser security".[79]
Internet Explorer 9's dual-pronged approach to blocking access to malicious URLs—SmartScreen Filter to block bad URLs, and Application Reputation to detect untrustworthy executables—provides the best socially engineered malware blocking of any stable browser version. Internet Explorer 9 blocked 92 percent of malware with its URL-based filtering, and 100 percent with Application-based filtering enabled. Internet Explorer 8, in second place, blocked 90 percent of malware. Tied for third place were Safari 5, Chrome 10, and Firefox 4, each blocking just 13 percent. Bringing up the rear was Opera 11, blocking just 5 percent of malware.[80][81]
Due to technical improvements of the browser, the Internet Explorer developer team decided to change theuser agent (UA) string. TheMozilla/4.0 token was changed toMozilla/5.0 to match the user agent strings of other recent browsers and to indicate that Internet Explorer 9 is more interoperable than previous versions. TheTrident/4.0 token was likewise changed toTrident/5.0. Because long, extended UA strings cause compatibility issues, Internet Explorer 9's default UA string does not include.NET identifiers or other "pre-platform" and "post-platform" tokens that were sent by previous versions of the browser. The extended string is still available to websites via the browser's .userAgent property, and is sent when a web page is displayed inCompatibility View mode.[82]
| Operating system | IE7 compatibility view? | User agent string | Extended string? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Windows 7/Windows Server 2008 R2 | Yes | Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 7.0; Windows NT 6.1; Trident/5.0) | Yes |
| Windows 7/Windows Server 2008 R2 | No | Mozilla/5.0 (compatible; MSIE 9.0; Windows NT 6.1; Trident/5.0) | No |
| Windows Vista/Windows Server 2008 | Yes | Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 7.0; Windows NT 6.0; Trident/5.0) | Yes |
| Windows Vista/Windows Server 2008 | No | Mozilla/5.0 (compatible; MSIE 9.0; Windows NT 6.0; Trident/5.0) | No |
In Internet Explorer 9, the extensibility mechanisms forBrowser Helper Objects (BHOs) andtoolbars remain the same. Not loading BHOs or toolbars improves startup time, but limits the ability of developers to augment the user experience through these extensibility mechanisms.
Noting that according toNet Applications, Internet Explorer's share fell to 56% in January 2011,[86] theBBC quoted Microsoft's claims that Internet Explorer 9 is "playing catch up, but it leapfrogs everything" and "you are seeing innovation after innovation that other folks are catching up to."[87]
InThe Register, Tim Anderson said Internet Explorer 9 was Microsoft's answer to the fall in Internet Explorer's market share (from 68.5% in July 2008 to 46% in January 2011, according toStatCounter). He felt it was "fast and polished", a "remarkable improvement" over version 8, noting "superb" development tools and "real and significant" support for HTML5, though "not as comprehensive as the company's publicity implies." However, configuration options are "strewn all over the user interface", and the "distinctive and excellent"ActiveX filtering andTracking Protection features might be "perplexing for less technical users." Having reached release candidate status eleven months after it was originally announced at the March 2010MIX conference, "Microsoft's development process is too slow." The new version is "a good modern browser" but "the competition is moving faster."[88]
Computing observed that "the feature set has piled up" since development began, with recent changes including "a completely rejigged JavaScript engine, and far better web standards support." It reported that Internet Explorer 9 RC ranked above Firefox, slightly above Safari, and below Chrome and Opera onFuturemark's Peacekeeper browser benchmark. Internet Explorer 9 scored 95% on the unofficialAcid3 standards test.[89]
Michael Muchmore's first impressions inPC Magazine were broadly positive, praising features of the InPrivate mode (which "I'm surprised other browser makers haven't included") and concluding that Internet Explorer 9's tracking protection was "more flexible and comprehensive" than Mozilla's. The review reported that Internet Explorer 9 "now wins the SunSpider JavaScript Benchmark" and had achieved "a hefty improvement" on Google's JavaScript benchmark – though it was still far behind Chrome 9. However "in normal browsing, I was hard pressed to see a [performance] difference between Chrome and Internet Explorer." The release candidate was also "perfectly" compatible with far more sites than the beta, but there are still issues with some sites because their developers are not yet testing with the new browser. The RC scores 4 out of 5 ("very good") for now.[90]
On its first day of commercial availability, Internet Explorer 9 was downloaded over 2.35 million times.[91]
Blogging his March 2011 performance tests forZDNet, Adrian Kingsley-Hughes concluded thatChrome 10, Internet Explorer 9 (32-bit) Final Release,Opera 11.01 andFirefox 4'sRelease candidate were "pretty evenly matched.... Microsoft has worked hard on IE, taking it from being the slowest in the pack to one of the fastest. Bottom line, I really don't think that JavaScript performance is an issue any more, and certainly in real-world testing it's hard to see a difference between the browsers."[52]
On 31 October 2011,PC World ranked Internet Explorer 9 as #19 on its100 Best Products of 2011. The other web browser listed wasMaxthon 3.1, a hybrid browser based on Google Chrome and Internet Explorer.[92] A review of IE9 beta inPC World noted a performance improvement over IE8.[93]
BothIA-32 andx64 builds are available.[94] It is the last version of Internet Explorer to supportWindows Vista SP2,Windows Server 2008 SP2,Windows 7 RTM andWindows Server 2008 R2 RTM.[95][96][97][98][99][100][101]
At the February 2011Mobile World Congress,Steve Ballmer announced a major update toWindows Phone due towards the end of 2011,[1] which will include a mobile version of Internet Explorer 9 that supports the same web standards (e.g. HTML5) and hardware accelerated graphics as the PC version.[102] Microsoft demonstrated hardware-accelerated performance of a fish-tank demo using a development build of mobile Internet Explorer 9 compared with slow performance on theNovember 2010 iOS 4.2.1 RTM of Safari on iPhone 4.[1]
If you are licensed to use Microsoft Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows Server 2008, or Windows Server 2008 R2 software (for which this supplement is applicable) (the "software"), you may use this supplement.
transform attribute, W3C, 2003-01-14A dramatic improvement over IE 8's JavaScript performance, which, in past testing, had lagged far behind its competition.
| Preceded by | Internet Explorer 9 2011 | Succeeded by |
