Software Architect's Handbook

Multiplexing

One of the most important features of HTTP/2 is multiplexing. Multiplexing is the ability to send multiple HTTP requests and receive multiple HTTP responses asynchronously through a single TCP connection, as shown in the following diagram:

HTTP/1.1 does not support multiplexing, which is what led to the various workarounds to improve performance. With HTTP/2, we should no longer be concatenating files into a small number of large bundles. The expensive cache invalidation of a bundle that is necessary when any of the files in the bundle are changed can now be avoided or minimized. We can now transfer more granular assets, either ...