What’s New in Chrome 97? Exploring WebTransport, QUIC, and DevTools Recorder

TL;TR

Chrome 97's biggest highlight is WebTransport, enabled by QUIC, offering stronger, faster bidirectional communication for low‑latency scenarios like games, live streaming, and video conferencing.

Release date: 2022‑01‑04.

14 features in total, 9 are enabled by default; see Chrome Platform Status for details.

V8 engine version: 9.7.

Enabled features of interest: WebTransport, DevTools Recorder.

Detailed Analysis

WebTransport

Chrome 97 officially adds WebTransport, a new application‑layer protocol supporting bidirectional, reliable and unreliable communication with multiplexing, ideal for low‑latency use cases.

The comparison below shows how WebTransport stacks up against similar bidirectional protocols.

WebSocket : Underlying TCP/TLS; advantages: mature, simple to use; disadvantages: TCP head‑of‑line blocking, no unreliable unordered communication, unsuitable for low‑latency scenarios.

WebRTC data channels : Underlying SCTP/DTLS/ICE/UDP; advantages: suitable for peer‑to‑peer scenarios; disadvantages: complex to use, not intended for client/server communication.

WebTransport : Underlying HTTP/3 (QUIC/UDP) or HTTP/2 (TLS/TCP); advantages: lower latency, no head‑of‑line blocking, broader applicability; disadvantages: not yet a formal standard.

WebTransport defaults to HTTP/3, with HTTP/2 as a fallback.

QUIC and HTTP/3

HTTP/3, built on QUIC, replaces TCP with a UDP‑based transport that integrates TCP, TLS, and HTTP/2 functionalities, offering reliable communication, TLS 1.3 encryption, and multiplexing to eliminate head‑of‑line blocking.

Key benefits of QUIC include faster deployment, UDP‑based transport, built‑in encryption, and operation outside the OS kernel.

Provides TCP‑like reliable communication handling loss and congestion.

Encrypts with TLS 1.3, preventing middle‑box interference.

Offers HTTP/2‑like multiplexing, solving TCP head‑of‑line blocking.

Major services such as Twitch and Google Stadia already use WebTransport, attributing its advantages to QUIC, though detailed performance data is lacking.

While WebTransport is currently Chrome‑only and not yet a formal standard, its underlying QUIC protocol is gaining traction and is expected to become a standard soon.

DevTools Recorder

Chrome 97 adds a preview feature in DevTools called Recorder, which can capture user flows for testing and performance analysis, exportable as Puppeteer scripts.

Example error when running an exported script:

node search.js
(node:3972) UnhandledPromiseRejectionWarning: Error: net::ERR_INVALID_URL at chrome://new-tab-page/...

The issue stems from Puppeteer not supporting the chrome://new-tab-page URL.

Despite this, Recorder remains a useful tool for developers.

Conclusion

WebTransport and its QUIC foundation represent a significant shift in web communication, promising lower latency and richer capabilities, though widespread adoption awaits standardization and broader browser support. Chrome continues to drive web platform evolution, especially for B2B applications.