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I have the single big file (1.2GB+) hosted on the server to download currently served using HTTP/1.1.

We are exploring if we can move to HTTP/2 for better performance and security.

All the places on the internet I see people talking about improvement in speed if there are many small files I need to download. What about a single big file?

Pranit Kothari
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  • Doubtful. See https://css-tricks.com/http2-real-world-performance-test-analysis/ – Robert Harvey May 04 '19 at 04:06
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    Why don't you test it? I doubt setting up a webserver for a single static file takes that much time. – nvoigt May 04 '19 at 07:43
  • True. I set up ASP.Net Core server and find out HTTP2 has 25% better performance. Though I read all around that it is designed for multiple small resources. I cannot up the changes on production unless sure about the results. Both theoretical and practical. – Pranit Kothari May 04 '19 at 15:00
  • Maybe a good candidate for a CDN? – svidgen May 04 '19 at 16:36

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You are correct. H2 is designed to multiplex many simultaneous requests, and overcome the limitations of TCP in that regard.

Even if you broke up your file into smaller parts, H2 doesnt help you if the contents of all of the file fragments are needed to be useful.

Even gzip etc makes it tough with a file that big. I think you honestly need to look at using FTP, or some sort of background file transfer technique.

spozun
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