The server looks for the requested file and responds with the requested resource and a 200 OK HTTP status message.The browser sends an HTTP request asking for the Index.html page.In this case, we are not using any compression method to compress the response being sent by the server. HTTP works on a request-response model, as demonstrated below: With an overall increase in the number of HTTP requests and responses, it becomes important to ensure that these transfers are taking place at a fast and efficient rate. Modern day websites involve a lot of HTTP requests and responses between the client (the browser) and the server to serve a webpage. Per Wikipedia: “ Data compression involves encoding information using fewer bits than the original representation.”Ĭompression plays a key role when it comes to saving bandwidth and speeding up your site. “Encoding” is the process of placing a sequence of characters in a specialized format that allows efficient data storage as well as transmission. The word “compression” comes from the Latin word compressare, which means to press together. Let’s start by understanding what data encoding and compression are: We will also cover a new type of compression method called “ Brotli” in the second part of this blog. In this article, we will spend some time understanding the basics of compression and how it works. There are several best practices that help optimize page load time, read this blog post to learn about webpage optimization techniques. Today, they are increasingly more complex and there is an evident need to have compression algorithms that are lossless, fast, and efficient. The World Wide Web (Back then, webpages were very simple. Compression algorithms have existed since the ’70s and the ongoing research to have better algorithms proves just how important compression is for the Internet and for all of us. Companies like Google and Facebook have spent a lot of time and effort trying to develop faster and better compression algorithms. How important is data compression? The sharing of information in a fast and efficient manner has been an area of constant study and research.

Best compression algorithm