Web protocols are an important theme in enabling communication between devices on the internet.

Web protocols are the secret handshakes in the digital world where the rules and conventions for data exchange are defined between the network devices.

• WebSocket

They are a set of multiple standards where the WebSocket API is defined by the W3C, and the WebSocket protocol (RFC 6455) and its extensions are defined by the HyBi Working Group (IETF). One of the major benefits of WebSocket is its ability to enable bidirectional full duplex and long-live communication over a single TCP (Transmission Control Protocol) connection.

The custom scheme is used by the WebSocket resources URL, i.e. ws://example.,com/socket, and wss encrypted channel.

There are different types of schemes except for HTTP because the WebSocket protocol is used outside the browser and negotiation is possible via non-http exchange.

Another advantage of WebSocket is its not have to worry about buffering, parsing, and reconstructing the received data.

Once the WebSocket connection is established, sending and receiving UTF-8 encoded messages are possible by the client. Array buffer or Blob could be used for binary transmission.

ArrayBuffer means a reserved chunk of memory specifically designed for holding binary data with a fixed-size buffer that can’t be directly manipulated. Well, a raw storage unit for binary information where the data specifics are not important but only to be waiting to be used.

Audio samples, image pixels, or network packets could be an ideal example of using an ArrayBuffer.

A blob is a chunk of binary data but not just about memory where it can be associated with files, network responses, or other resources. Blobs are used for things such as images, videos, or files that can be downloaded or uploaded.

The roundtrip is not decreased between the client and server by the WebSocket. The browser for the WebSocket is optimized for HTTP data transfers. The protocol is understood to provide a wide range of services such as authentication, caching, compression, and much more.

The streaming of custom protocols is allowed in WebSocket between client and server but at the cost of bypassing many of the services provided by the browser with the initial HTTP handshake to perform some negotiation of the parameters of the connection.

As the session is established once, all data streamed between the client and server is not transparent to the browser making it a secure handshake connection.

• WebRTC

A collection of standards, protocols, and JavaScript APIs is known as Web Real-Time Communication. It breaks away from the traditional client-to-server communication and replaces it with a new media stack that is required to enable efficient, real-time processing of audio and video.

Web Real-time Communication (WEBRTC) W3C Working Group is for defining the browser APIs.  In Web browsers, they are responsible for defining the protocols, data formats, security, and all other necessary aspects for enabling peer-to-peer communication in the browser.

Examples are peer-to-peer audio, video, and data sharing between browsers where high-quality data is delivered.

• HTTP 2.0

The development of HTTP2.0 was started in 2012 based on SPDY specifications that were developed at Google in mid-2009.

A combination of RFC 7540 (HTTP/2.0) and RFC 7541 (HPACK Header Compression) is known as HTTP/2.0 and it was aimed at reducing the Page Load Time by up to 50% compared to HTTP1.1.

Hence the efficiency is increased for the underlying TCP connected by introducing a new binary framing layer for enabling request and response multiplexing, prioritization, and minimizing to eliminate unnecessary network latency.

The latency is also reduced in HTTP/2.0 by enabling the full request and response.

The HTTP/2.0 is without its limits in the number of concurrent requests sent over a single connection. The request to the clients can be prioritized with specific resources to be delivered first so that the congestion of the network path can be avoided.

It uses hpack header compression. The server allows the push of the data to the client without any requests.

Sources:- Springer