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ObsoletedPROPOSED STANDARDIETF stream

RFC 7231: Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP/1.1): Semantics and Content

This RFC has been replaced. Do not implement against it for new work — it was formally obsoleted by RFC 9110.

Current document in this lineage: RFC 7616 — HTTP Digest Access Authentication; RFC 7617 — The 'Basic' HTTP Authentication Scheme; RFC 9110 — HTTP Semantics; RFC 9111 — HTTP Caching; RFC 9112 — HTTP/1.1

In plain English — editorial summary, not part of the RFC

RFC 7231 is the semantics half of the 2014 HTTP/1.1 rewrite: what the methods mean (GET, POST, PUT, DELETE and friends), what each status code signals, and how content negotiation and representation headers work. It is the document to reach for when you need to know whether a method is safe or idempotent, or exactly what a 409 versus a 422 means. It has itself since been superseded by RFC 9110.

Original abstract from the RFC

The Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) is a stateless \%application- level protocol for distributed, collaborative, hypertext information systems. This document defines the semantics of HTTP/1.1 messages, as expressed by request methods, request header fields, response status codes, and response header fields, along with the payload of messages (metadata and body content) and mechanisms for content negotiation.

Document record

Document ID
RFC7231
Published
June 2014
Authors
R. Fielding; J. Reschke
Status
PROPOSED STANDARD
Stream
IETF
Area
wit
Pages
101
Also known as
—
Obsoletes:
RFC 2616
Obsoleted by:
RFC 9110
Updates:
RFC 2817

Topics

Standards lineage

This document is one revision in a chain of 21 RFCs, each formally replacing the one before it.

  1. RFC 2068 (1997)
  2. RFC 2069 (1997)
  3. RFC 2145 (1997)
  4. RFC 2616 (1999)
  5. RFC 2617 (1999)
  6. RFC 2818 (2000)
  7. RFC 7230 (2014)
  8. RFC 7231 (2014)
  9. RFC 7232 (2014)
  10. RFC 7233 (2014)
  11. RFC 7234 (2014)
  12. RFC 7235 (2014)
  13. RFC 7238 (2014)
  14. RFC 7538 (2015)
  15. RFC 7615 (2015)
  16. RFC 7616 (2015)
  17. RFC 7617 (2015)
  18. RFC 7694 (2015)
  19. RFC 9110 (2022)
  20. RFC 9111 (2022)
  21. RFC 9112 (2022) ✓

Read the full history of HTTP/1.1 →

Referenced by

One later RFC formally updates or obsoletes part of this document.

Related documents

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About this page

The document record above — title, authors, date, status, stream, area, relationships, DOI and errata — is imported verbatim from the public RFC Editor index. The “in plain English” section is editorial: written by The metasystema editorial team, not part of the RFC. Where the two differ, the RFC text governs.

Last checked against the RFC Editor index on . RFCs are never revised after publication; changes are issued as new documents.

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canonical URL: /rfc/7231-hypertext-transfer-protocol-http-1-1-semantics-and-content