▶ Interactive Lab

HTTP/2 Stream Multiplexing

Multiple streams interleave over one connection.

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HTTP/2 multiplexes multiple streams over one TCP connection. Frames interleave.

What you're seeing

HTTP/1.1: 1 request/response per connection (or pipelining, rarely used). HTTP/2: many streams in flight on one connection. Each stream has an ID; frames are tagged.

Pros: one TCP/TLS handshake serves many requests. Cons: TCP head-of-line blocking - one lost packet stalls all streams. HTTP/3 fixes this with QUIC.

★ KEY TAKEAWAY
HTTP/2 multiplexes many streams over one TCP connection. Streams' frames interleave.
▶ WHAT TO TRY
  • Click Start new stream a few times.
  • Watch frames from different streams (colors) flow on the shared connection.