Does HTTP use UDP?

Question

This might be a silly question:

• Does HTTP ever use the User Datagram Protocol?

For example:

If one is

Answer 1

Yes, HTTP, as an application protocol, can be transferred over UDP transport protocol. Here are some of the services that use UDP and an underlying protocol for transferring HTTP data and streaming it to the end-user:

• XMPP's Jingle Raw UDP Transport Method
• A number for services that use UDT --- UDP-based Data Transfer Protocol, which is the a superset of UDP protocol.
• The Transport Layer Security (TLS) protocol encapsulating HTTP as well as the above mentioned XMPP and other application protocols does have an implementation that uses UDP in its transport layer; this implementation is called Datagram Transport Layer Security (DTLS).
• Push notifications in GNUTella are HTTP requests sent over UDP transport.

This article contains further details on streaming over UDP and its reliable superset, the RUDP: Reliable UDP (RUDP): The Next Big Streaming Protocol?