A US web expert has called for web users to abandon Internet Explorer 6 for the greater good of the internet.

Developed in 2001 and packaged with Windows XP, IE6 was the most widely used web browser of its tenure, reaching usage of up to 80 per cent during its peak in 2002 and 2003.

Despite being superseded by IE7 and IE8, as well as the rise of competitors such as Firefox, Safari, Opera and Chrome, market share was still at 25 per cent in September 2008, according to a Net Applications Market Share survey.

In a post on social media blog Mashable, associate editor Ben Parr says internet users and web developers are at a crossroads and for the web to move on, IE6 must be abandoned.

"We've sputtered on with the dead weight of IE6 since 2001, but we're just now reaching a breaking point and companies are starting to feel it," he said.

"YouTube and Digg clearly believe that it's not in their best interests to continue supporting the outdated browser and thus have put the word out about their plans to phase out support.

"More and more companies will take their lead as it becomes harder and harder to justify the cost of keeping a site running correctly in Microsoft's old browser."

Twitter and Facebook have also been urging users to upgrade their browsers.

Mr Parr says that the web has done all right, despite IE6, but the coming release of HTML 5 means innovation will be stifled if websites continue to cater to IE6.

He says HTML 5 offers a range of benefits, including being able to embed video and audio directly into html, a time tag to help browsers recognise time in html pages, the ability to drag and drop files directly onto the browser, the ability to create web apps that can determine your location and provide more relevant information, and the ability to save files locally when using web-based applications.

Mr Parr says people have stuck with IE6 because it is the standard browser of Windows XP.

A recent survey by Digg found people primarily use IE6 at work, because they have no other option.

"Without a significant event like Google not loading in IE6, people have stayed content with their current browser," Mr Parr said.

Microsoft has been contacted for comment.

ABC News Online has no plans to drop support for IE6 in the near future.