RFC 3229 (rfc3229) - Page 1 of 49

Delta encoding in HTTP

Alternative Format: Original Text Document
Next >
Network Working Group                                           J. Mogul
Request for Comments: 3229                                    Compaq WRL
Category: Standards Track                               B. Krishnamurthy
                                                              F. Douglis
                                                                    AT&T
                                                             A. Feldmann
                                                   Univ. of Saarbruecken
                                                               Y. Goland
                                                             A. van Hoff
                                                                 Marimba
                                                          D. Hellerstein
                                                                ERS/USDA
                                                            January 2002


                         Delta encoding in HTTP

Status of this Memo

   This document specifies an Internet standards track protocol for the
   Internet community, and requests discussion and suggestions for
   improvements.  Please refer to the current edition of the "Internet
   Official Protocol Standards" (STD 1) for the standardization state
   and status of this protocol.  Distribution of this memo is unlimited.

Copyright Notice

   Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2002).  All Rights Reserved.

Abstract

   This document describes how delta encoding can be supported as a
   compatible extension to HTTP/1.1.

   Many HTTP (Hypertext Transport Protocol) requests cause the retrieval
   of slightly modified instances of resources for which the client
   already has a cache entry.  Research has shown that such modifying
   updates are frequent, and that the modifications are typically much
   smaller than the actual entity.  In such cases, HTTP would make more
   efficient use of network bandwidth if it could transfer a minimal
   description of the changes, rather than the entire new instance of
   the resource.  This is called "delta encoding."









Mogul, et al.               Standards Track
Next >