What is HTTP/3?

HTTP Version 3 (H3) is the next major version of the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), the application layer protocol that powers the World Wide Web. It is being developed by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) to address the need for improved performance, security, and privacy. H3 is intended to replace HTTP/2, the current version of the protocol, and will bring a number of new features and improvements. These include a new way of compressing data, improved encryption, a new way of prioritizing requests, and support for multiplexing. Additionally, H3 will aim to improve latency and support for larger requests, such as those often needed in mobile applications.

How HTTP/3 works

The core of HTTP/3 is built upon the new QUIC (Quick UDP Internet Connections) protocol, which combines a number of existing technologies such as TCP, TLS, and UDP. QUIC addresses many of the issues posed by using TCP/TLS, such as head-of-line blocking and packet reordering. It also provides improved encryption and authentication for improved privacy and security.

On top of the QUIC layer, H3 adds a number of features to improve performance, including request multiplexing, stream prioritization, header compression, and server push. Request multiplexing allows a single connection to be used to send multiple requests in parallel, while stream prioritization allows the server to prioritize certain requests over others. Header compression reduces the size of the data sent over the connection, while server push allows the server to push data to the client without waiting for a request.

Finally, HTTP/3 includes support for the new HTTP Binary protocol, which is a binary-based encoding of HTTP messages. This encoding is intended to reduce the size of data sent over the connection, making it more efficient for mobile applications.

In summary, HTTP/3 is a major update to the Hypertext Transfer Protocol that is intended to improve performance, security, and privacy. It combines the QUIC protocol with a number of additional features to improve performance and reduce latency, while also providing improved encryption and authentication.

HTTP/3 VS HTTP/2

HTTP 3 is the latest version of the Hypertext Transfer Protocol, which is the underlying protocol used by the World Wide Web. It is a major revision of the protocol, which improves the performance and security of data transfers between a web server and a client. HTTP 3 is based on the QUIC (Quick UDP Internet Connections) protocol, which is a new transport layer protocol that optimizes data transfers over the internet by providing faster, more reliable and secure connections.

HTTP 2, on the other hand, is the previous version of the Hypertext Transfer Protocol. It was created to address some of the limitations of the previous version, HTTP 1.1. It was designed to allow multiple requests and responses to be sent in parallel, reducing the amount of time required to transfer data. It also reduces the amount of bandwidth used by sending data in a compressed format. Furthermore, it improves security by using encryption to protect data from tampering.

The main difference between HTTP 3 and HTTP 2 is the underlying protocol. HTTP 3 is based on QUIC, which is a new transport layer protocol, while HTTP 2 is based on the older HTTP 1.1 protocol. QUIC is designed to provide faster, more reliable, and secure data transfers, while HTTP 1.1 is more limited in its capabilities. Additionally, HTTP 3 supports a more efficient header compression technique than HTTP 2, which reduces the overhead of data transfers.