TE header in HTTP is one of the specific headers that receives less attention, but it plays a significant role in improving HTTP communications. TE stands for Transfer-Encoding, and this header allows the client to indicate a specific type of encoding to be used for transferring data.
In the web world, data transfer between the server and client is accomplished using different technologies and protocols. These transfers may include compression, encoding, and other optimization techniques. TE header is one of the tools that aids the server and client in exchanging data more efficiently and quickly.
The TE header allows us to inform the server what type of encoding is appropriate for the transmitted data. This type of encoding can decrease the size of the data being sent and thus increase the speed of data transfer. Typically, when the server cannot encode or the client does not require encoding, this header is not used.
Below is an example of how to use the TE header in an HTTP request:
GET / HTTP/1.1
Host: example.com
TE: gzip, deflate; q=0.5
In the above example, the client informs the server that it can use the encoding methods gzip and deflate. The number q=0.5 signifies a lower priority for deflate compared to gzip.
Let’s analyze this code line by line:
GET / HTTP/1.1
This GET request is for receiving the content of the main page of the website.
Host: example.com
This line specifies the hostname (server) from which the request is made, which here is example.com.
TE: gzip, deflate; q=0.5
By using this header, the client informs the server that it is capable of accepting compressed data using gzip and deflate. q=0.5 indicates a lower preference for deflate compared to gzip.