HTTP/1.1

HTTP/1.1 was developed to address these problems. It is backward-compatible with HTTP/1.0 but manages connections differently. Instead of making a separate connection for each Web object, an HTTP/1.1 client makes a single persistent connection with the server, which it leaves open for subsequent retrievals, thus solving the above problems:

1.

The client doesn't need to waste time or packets setting up multiple connections.

2.

The server doesn't need to maintain state for those extra connections.

3.

The single HTTP/1.1 connection transfers more data than each of the HTTP/1.0 connection and therefore can more effectively use slow start to fully utilize the network's bandwidth.

4.

HTTP/1.1 pipelines its requests, enabling the client to issue multiple requests before receiving any responses from the server.

5.

Since the client uses pipelined requests over one connection, different objects sent from the server can be packed into a fewer number of packets, resulting in lower internal fragmentation.

Having a single persistent, pipelined connection allows the HTTP/1.1 to reach a throughput approaching the bandwidth of the network while only sending the minimal number of packets.