As the digital world continues to reshape our daily lives, from communication and entertainment to business and education, the demand for more efficient, low-latency, and adaptable web communication solutions has grown stronger than ever.
In response to these evolving needs, WebTransport has stepped onto the stage, determined to redefine the way web applications communicate with servers over the Internet.
By operating as a bridge between the application layer and the transport layer, WebTransport has the potential to revolutionize various aspects of online experiences, from enhancing real-time online gaming to transforming video conferencing and live streaming technologies.
In a recent article, we went through the working mechanisms of a WebSocket.
WebSocket is a communication protocol that provides full-duplex, bidirectional communication between a client (typically a web browser) and a server over a single, long-lived connection.
WebTransport has the capacity to replace WebSocket in many areas in the coming years.
Just by looking at the name and its popular comparison to WebSocket, one might assume that WebTransport is an application layer protocol.
WebTransport is not an application layer protocol in the traditional sense. It is more accurately described as a transport protocol that operates at a layer below the application layer. To provide some context:
- Application Layer: This is where actual applications and services operate. Protocols like HTTP, FTP, and SMTP are application layer protocols that define how data should be structured and transmitted for specific purposes. They rely on lower-level transport protocols to handle the actual data transmission.
- Transport Layer: This is the layer responsible for managing the end-to-end communication between two devices. It includes protocols like TCP and UDP. TCP provides reliable, connection-oriented…