Why HTTP/3 Is Replacing TCP: The Rise of QUIC and UDP
Upcoming IETF discussions aim to replace the long‑standing TCP‑based HTTP with a new UDP‑based protocol, QUIC, rebranded as HTTP/3, offering lower latency and improved security, while distinguishing Google’s gQUIC from the IETF’s iQUIC and gaining industry support.
According to iThome.com.tw, the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) will soon discuss the next‑generation HTTP transport protocol, which may abandon the long‑used TCP in favor of the UDP‑based QUIC technology, and the new HTTP will be named HTTP/3.
Current HTTP versions (1.0, 1.1, and 2) are implemented on top of TCP (Transmission Control Protocol).
TCP provides reliable, ordered delivery but suffers from low efficiency and connection latency. To improve data transmission over IP networks, Google introduced an experimental transport protocol called QUIC.
QUIC does not use TCP; it uses UDP (User Datagram Protocol) as its foundation. Although UDP is less reliable and can experience packet loss or reordering, it is simpler and offers higher transmission efficiency, significantly reducing latency. Google added security and buffering mechanisms to QUIC to mitigate DoS attacks.
Google intends to submit QUIC to the IETF to become an Internet standard, but the IETF also developed its own version of QUIC. The community refers to Google’s version as gQUIC and the IETF’s version as iQUIC.
When the IETF QUIC working group standardizes QUIC, two protocols emerge: a transport protocol and an HTTP layer protocol. The transport protocol can carry data beyond HTTP, but both share the QUIC name. The HTTP protocol running over iQUIC has been called HTTP‑over‑QUIC, HTTP/QUIC.
To reduce confusion, the IETF decided to rename HTTP‑over‑QUIC to HTTP/3. Mark Nottingham, chair of the HTTP and QUIC working groups, proposed this change at the recent IETF HTTPBIS meeting, and it was widely accepted.
Mozilla developer Daniel Stenberg’s log notes that HTTP/3 differs from previous versions; it is not a descendant of HTTP/1.1 or HTTP/2, nor is it HTTP/2 over QUIC, because it is a new HTTP designed on top of QUIC. The next‑generation HTTP will be built around QUIC as its core transport protocol.
Litespeed engineers announced that their company and Facebook have completed compatibility testing of HTTP/3 implementations.
Source: Sina Technology
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