With the Windows 10 Creators Update, Microsoft is bringing support for Brotli Compression in Microsoft Edge browser. With EdgeHTML 15.14986, Microsoft Edge already supports Brotli as an HTTP content-encoding method.
If you are in the Windows Insider program running the latest insider build, Microsoft Edge already supports Brotli on HTTPS and HTTP connections. However, Microsoft is keen to update this behavior to only advertise Brotli support on HTTPS connections.
What is Brotli Compression:
Brotli is a compression format defined in RFC 7932, previously available as part of the WOFF2 font format. When used as an HTTP content-encoding method, Brotli achieves up to 20% better compression ratios with similar compression and decompression speeds (PDF). This ultimately results in substantially reduced page weight for users, improving load times without substantially impacting client-side CPU costs. As compared to existing algorithms, like Deflate, Brotli compression is more efficient in terms of file size and CPU time.
In case you are not aware, Brotli was first introduced by Google back in the year 2015, you can learn more about it here
In terms of competition, Facebook has its own standard—Zstandard