Last month, we changed our congestion control algorithm to BBR and ralised 21% performance improvement in p99 response times.
Using same method to measure performance, we enabled HTTP/3 for all of our customers at start of April 2022. We were obviously expecting some performance gains but were pleasantly surprised to see almost 10% performance improvement on top of what we delivered last month using BBR.
For starters, HTTP/3 is the third major version of the Hypertext Transfer Protocol used to exchange information on the World Wide Web, alongside HTTP/1.1 and HTTP/2. HTTP/3 always runs over QUIC.
Best Connections
We have taken p10, p25, and p50 response times to measure the best connections. We are seeing ~ 1% improvements in response times.
Poor Connections
We have taken p75, p95, and p99 response times to measure the impact on poor connections. It shows that the impact of HTTP/3 is highest in such lossy connections, and it results in a very significant performance improvement. For all 3 values, the improvements are ~10%.
This is a huge win for customers on lossy connections. They are now getting their videos started around 0.9 seconds faster. Moreover, whenever there is any connection or packet drop, it't not going to pause HTTP/3 streams. This makes HTTP/3 ideal for video delivery.
How to use HTTP/3?
HTTP/3 is already enabled for all of our customers. Users who are on Chrome, Firefox and Edge will automatically start taking advtnage. For Safari on iOS and Mac, it's currently disabled by default but apple is soon expected to enable it.
For Android app, there is little more work required. If you are using ExoPlayer, here is a nice guide on how to enable HTTP/3 for video serving: https://exoplayer.dev/network-stacks.html
For iOS app, here is a guide to enable HTTP/3 for your entire app: https://developer.apple.com/documentation/technotes/tn3102-http3-in-your-app
We are always putting performance as first priority at Gumlet. We will keep enhancing our video streaming capabilities and let keep you posted as we introduce more improvements. As always, keep your feedback coming and let us know what do you think about our products!
