How early is early dark energy?

We investigate constraints on early dark energy (EDE) from the cosmic microwave background (CMB) anisotropy, taking into account data from WMAP9 combined with the latest small-scale measurements from the South Pole Telescope (SPT). For a constant EDE fraction we propose a new parametrization with one less parameter but still enough to provide similar results to the ones previously studied in the literature. The main emphasis of our analysis, however, compares a new set of different EDE parametrizations that reveal how CMB constraints depend on the redshift epoch at which dark energy was non-negligible. We find that bounds on EDE get substantially weaker if dark energy starts to be non-negligible later, with the early dark energy fraction ₄ free to go up to about 5% at two sigma if the onset of EDE happens at z100. Tight bounds around 1--2% are obtained whenever dark energy is present at last scattering, even if its effects switch off afterwards. We show that the CMB mainly constrains the presence of dark energy at the time of its emission, while EDE modifications of the subsequent growth of structure are less important.