How websockets can be faster than a simple HTTP request?

Question

You still need to send requests from your computer to the website's server and back and forth. How can websockets make it so much faster?

Answer 1

WebSocket is a extension for HTTP. For low-latency communication Web Sockets are better.

Also check this article

How can websockets make it so much faster?

To establish a WebSocket connection, the client and server upgrade from the HTTP protocol to the WebSocket protocol during their initial handshake, as shown in the following example:-

GET /text HTTP/1.1
Upgrade: WebSocket
Connection: Upgrade
Host: www.websocket.org

HTTP/1.1 101 WebSocket Protocol Handshake
Upgrade: WebSocket
Connection: Upgrade
…

Once established, WebSocket data frames can be sent back and forth between the client and the server in full-duplex mode. Both text and binary frames can be sent full-duplex, in either direction at the same time. The data is minimally framed with just two bytes. In the case of text frames, each frame starts with a 0x00 byte, ends with a 0xFF byte, and contains UTF-8 data in between. WebSocket text frames use a terminator, while binary frames use a length prefix.

Web Sockets represents the next evolution of web communications—a full-duplex, bidirectional communications channel that operates through a single socket over the Web. HTML5 Web Sockets provides a true standard that you can use to build scalable, real-time web applications. In addition, since it provides a socket that is native to the browser, it eliminates many of the problems Comet solutions are prone to. Web Sockets removes the overhead and dramatically reduces complexity.

Latency comparison:-

Summary:-

Web Sockets provides an enormous step forward in the scalability of the real-time web. As you have seen in this article, HTML5 Web Sockets can provide a 500:1 or—depending on the size of the HTTP headers—even a 1000:1 reduction in unnecessary HTTP header traffic and 3:1 reduction in latency. That is not just an incremental improvement; that is a revolutionary jump—a quantum leap!

Answer 2

Websocket is distinct from http. As http is half-duplex which means communication can be from either sides(client and server) but not at same time. Websocket is said to be faster than http because it provides full duplex communication. So, both client and server can communicate at the same time.