chunkedtransferencoding

Chunked Transfer Encoding is a transfer encoding type used in HTTP. It allows data to be sent in a series of chunks, where each chunk is preceded by its size in hexadecimal format. This differs from the traditional method where the entire content length is specified upfront. The primary advantage of chunked transfer encoding is that the sender does not need to know the total size of the message body before starting to transmit it. This is particularly useful for dynamic content generated by servers, such as streaming data or pages built from multiple sources.

Each chunk consists of a line containing the size of the chunk in hexadecimal, followed by CRLF (carriage return and line feed), then the chunk data itself, and finally another CRLF. A chunk with a size of zero indicates the end of the message body. This mechanism provides flexibility for applications that cannot pre-calculate the total size of their response. It also allows for faster initial response times, as the server can start sending data without waiting for the entire content to be generated. Chunked transfer encoding is a common feature in modern web communication.