Throughput Assessment of HTTP/3 (QUIC)-Based Protocol on OpenLiteSpeed Web Server

HTTP/3 represents the most recent advancement of the HTTP protocol, employing QUIC as its transport layer to address many constraints of TCP, including connection latency and head-of-line blocking. This study evaluates the throughput performance of HTTP/3 on the OpenLiteSpeed Web server under various network conditions, particularly in situations involving artificial delay, packet loss, and network conditions considering the received signal strength indicator (RSSI). Performance data was obtained using cURL as a benchmarking tool and compared with HTTP/2. The experimental findings indicate that HTTP/3 consistently exceeds HTTP/2 in high packet loss conditions, due to its ability to retransmission at the stream level, hence reducing the adverse effects of packet loss on overall data delivery. In delay-centric situations, HTTP/3 exhibited enhanced stability and efficiency in throughput, due to its minimized round-trip handshake and improved loss recovery mechanisms. These results validate HTTP/3's robustness and efficacy in compromised network settings, positioning it as a compelling option for implementation in latency-sensitive and unstable situations.