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HTTP is a client-server application-layer protocol where user-agents send requests and servers return responses to fetch or post web resources.
HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol) is the core client-server protocol used on the Web to fetch and exchange resources such as HTML documents, images, videos, scripts, and form submissions. In HTTP, the client (typically a web browser or another user-agent) initiates communication by sending an HTTP request, and the server replies with an HTTP response. A complete web page is usually assembled from multiple resources retrieved through separate request/response messages rather than a single continuous data stream. HTTP operates at the application layer and is carried over reliable transport such as TCP, or over TLS-encrypted TCP for HTTPS. Although HTTP itself is stateless (each request is independent of the next), it supports stateful behavior through mechanisms like cookies for sessions. Between clients and servers, proxies and gateways may relay, cache, filter, balance load, authenticate, and log traffic, affecting performance while HTTP remains layered and largely abstracted from lower network details. Over time, HTTP has evolved from HTTP/1.0 to HTTP/1.1 and HTTP/2, improving efficiency via persistent connections and multiplexing, while keeping the fundamental request/response model.
HTTP is a client-server application-layer protocol where user-agents send requests and servers return responses to fetch or post web resources.
HTTP is carried over reliable transport (commonly TCP, often with TLS for HTTPS) and is stateless by design, with cookies enabling sessions.
Proxies and other intermediaries can cache, filter, authenticate, and load-balance HTTP traffic, while HTTP’s layered design keeps transport/network details mostly separate.
HTTP evolved for efficiency: HTTP/1.1 introduced persistent connections and pipelining, and HTTP/2 uses multiplexing over a single connection.
An application-layer protocol used to request and respond with web resources such as documents, media, and form data.
The entity that initiates HTTP requests on behalf of the user, commonly a web browser or a crawler.
The entity that receives HTTP requests and returns HTTP responses, potentially as multiple software instances or load-balanced machines.
An HTTP message sent by the client that specifies an operation (method), target resource (path/URL), headers, and sometimes a body.
An HTTP message sent by the server containing the protocol version, status code/message, headers, and optionally the requested resource body.
An intermediary that relays HTTP messages and may modify or enhance them (e.g., caching, filtering, authentication, load balancing).
A property of HTTP where each request is independent and not inherently linked to previous requests on the same connection.
A mechanism that allows HTTP to maintain state by sending session/context information with requests and responses.
A feature (notably in HTTP/1.1) that allows reuse of the same underlying TCP connection for multiple HTTP exchanges.
A technique in HTTP/2 that allows multiple request/response streams to share a single connection efficiently.
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