Both HTTP and HTTPS are protocols being used for transmitting and receiving information across the Internet.

HTTP is the acronym for Hypertext Transfer Protocol. HTTP has been the standard communication protocol pretty much since the internet was developed.

HTTP: HyperText Transfer Protocol:

Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) is a system for transmitting and receiving information across the Internet. HTTP is an “application layer protocol,” which ultimately means that its focus is on how information is presented to the user, however, this option doesn’t really care how data gets from Point A to Point B.

It is said to be “stateless,” which means it doesn’t attempt to remember anything about the previous web session. The benefit of being stateless it that there is less data to send, and that means increased speed.

Here is the fact of HTTP:

• The Term HTTP is originated by Ted Nelson.
• HTTP connections uses a port 80 by default.
• HTTP URLs begin with “http://”.
• The first version of HTTP was introduced in 1991 that is HTTP V0.9.
• HTTP V1.0 is specified in RFC 1945 that officially introduced and recognized in 1996.
• HTTP V1.1 is specified in RFC 2616 and was released in January 1997.
• HTTP V2.0 is specified in RFC 7540 and was published in May 2015

HTTPS: Hyper Text Transfer Protocol Secure:

Hyper Text Transfer Protocol Secure (HTTPS) is the secure version of HTTP, the protocol over which data is sent between your browser and the website that you are connected to. The ‘S’ at the end of HTTPS stands for ‘Secure’. It means all communications between your browser and the website are encrypted. HTTPS is often used to protect highly confidential online transactions like online banking and online shopping order forms.

 

Web browsers such as Internet Explorer, Firefox and Chrome also display a padlock icon in the address bar to visually indicate that an HTTPS connection is in effect.

 Here is the fact of HTTPS:

• HTTPS uses a port 443 by default to transfer the information.
• HTTPS URLs begin with “https://”.
• The HTTPS is first used in HTTPS V1.1 and defined in RFC 2616.

 HTTPS provides three key layers of protection

• Encryption. Encrypting the exchanged data to keep it secure.
• Data Integrity. Data cannot be modified or corrupted during transfer without being detected.
• Authentication proves that your users communicate with the intended website.

There is a belief among many around the web that HTTPS is slower. Fortunately, this is a myth. HTTPS is actually much faster than HTTP.

Difference between HTTP and HTTPS

• In HTTP, URL begins with “http://” whereas URL starts with “https://”
• HTTP uses port number 80 for communication and HTTPS uses 443
• HTTP is considered to be unsecured and HTTPS is secure
• HTTP Works at Application Layer and HTTPS works at Transport Layer
• In HTTP, Encryption is absent, and Encryption is present in HTTPS as discussed above
• HTTP does not require any certificates and HTTPS needs SSL Certificates

 

Is HTTP dying?

HTTP isn’t really dying, per se. It’s just being forced to evolve. As we mentioned earlier, the browsers are basically our de facto vehicle for getting around the internet. The vast majority of us could not use the internet without a browser. And that puts the browsers in position to influence the internet as they see fit.

Right now, they’re mandating SSL. The initiative began a few years ago with a soft push. Google announced HTTPS would become a ranking factor for SEO, then the browsers started making new features exclusive to sites with SSL. Gradually they incentivized encryption more and more.

For a detailed explanation on SSL/TLS protocols, check my earlier post: SSL/TLS

Keep reading, Keep learning 😊

 Source: Sanjay Barot, geeksforgeeks, i-techgeeks, instantssl,  Bhavesh Patel