Google has renamed the file suffix of its new Brotli software from ‘.bro’ to ‘.br’ to avoid the potentially misogynistic overtones associated with the term.

The tech giant’s new Brotli file compression software is designed to make websites load faster.

After information about the new software was shared online, one poster - a Mozilla engineer - suggested that: “'bro’ has a gender problem” and “comes of[f] misogynistic and unprofessional due to the world it lives in”.

While used as a friendly term of endearment between men - and yes, even women - the shortening for brother is also widely used to describe obnoxious, college-aged, heavy-drinking males who revel in their sexist behaviour and so-called ‘rape culture’.

In the tech world, the term has been fused with ‘programmer’ to create the portmanteau ‘brogrammer’. This can have either good or bad connotations, depending on how it’s used.

The file extension has now been changed from .bro to .br though this could be problematic as file names tend to have three characters, while .br is also the online abbreviation for Brazil.

Google software engineer Zoltan Szabadka reported that:

“I have asked a feminist friend from the North American culture-sphere, and she advised against bro”.

“We have found a compromise that satisfies us, so we don’t need to discuss this further.

“Even if we don’t understand why people are upset from our cultural standpoint, they would be (unnecessarily) upset and this is enough reason not to use it.”

Since Google’s U-turn, some have expressed outrage that so-called Social Justice Warriors or (SJWs) have had the temerity to influence Google’s naming strategy.

According to SiliconeAngle.com: “Only the most stupid, victim-hood obsessed social justice warrior could interpret a file extension called .bro for software called Brotli as being an act of evil misogyny”.



Sexism in the technology industry is a complicated issue with many females in tech receiving abuse and threats merely because of their gender.

As a result, tech companies are understandably hesitant to release software with a a potentially offensive name.

Image credit: Jeff Blackler/REX Shutterstock