Microsoft Brings More Performance Improvements to Edge

Last May, Microsoft detailed the work it did migrating the Edge user interface to WebUI 2.0, resulting in dramatic performance improvements. Today, it revealed that it has moved more of the Edge UI to this technology, with similar gains across the board.

“Starting with Microsoft Edge 132, many of the browser’s most important features, such as Downloads, Drop, History, and the InPrivate new tab experience are now a lot faster,” the Microsoft Edge team explains. “In fact, no less than 14 different areas of the user interface throughout the browser are now 40 percent faster than before, on average. This includes Favorites and Browser Essentials, which we had already mentioned earlier.”

Indeed. In May 2024, Microsoft said that its “markup-first” WebUI 2.0 architecture was between 42 and 76 percent faster, depending on the PC, and that it would work to migrate more and more of the Edge UI over to this system. Until today, however, we’ve heard nothing else about that work. And Microsoft again says that it will continue moving other bits of the Edge user interface to WebUI 2.0, with Print Preview, Read Aloud, and settings next in the queue.

For whatever it’s worth, these changes are indeed noticeable. It’s interesting that a browser as cluttered with unnecessary interfaces as Edge can feel this fast and streamlined.