Epic: #15
Block: 7 — The Response Arrives
Series order: 12 of 18
Description
The server has responded and bytes are arriving. This post covers what happens in the window between the first byte and the full response — streaming, content type negotiation, and compression.
Key topics
- Streaming response: how the browser begins parsing HTML before the full file downloads
- Navigation commit: when the browser switches from the old page to the new one
Content-Type and MIME types: how the browser decides what to do with the bytes- MIME sniffing: when the browser overrides
Content-Type based on the actual content
Content-Encoding vs Transfer-Encoding: the difference between compression and chunked delivery- Chunked transfer encoding: sending a response in pieces without knowing the total size upfront
- Compression: gzip vs Brotli — algorithm differences, compression ratios, browser support
Accept-Encoding / Content-Encoding negotiation: how browser and server agree on compression
Epic: #15
Block: 7 — The Response Arrives
Series order: 12 of 18
Description
The server has responded and bytes are arriving. This post covers what happens in the window between the first byte and the full response — streaming, content type negotiation, and compression.
Key topics
Content-Typeand MIME types: how the browser decides what to do with the bytesContent-Typebased on the actual contentContent-EncodingvsTransfer-Encoding: the difference between compression and chunked deliveryAccept-Encoding/Content-Encodingnegotiation: how browser and server agree on compression