HTTP is the technology for transferring files, graphics, and text on the Internet.
The name HTTP is an acronym for Hypertext Transfer Protocol and is basically the foundation of data communication for the World Wide Web.
The hypertext element of the name is the text that is displayed on electronic devices, such as a computer. On the Web pages are often written in HTML (hypertext markup language).
Tim Berners-Lee is credited with initiating development of HTTP while at CERN in 1989. The development of HTTP standard was undertaken by the Internet Engineering Task Force and the World Wide Web Consortium.
The joint work between these two agencies resulted in the publication of a series of Requests for Comments (RFC) and the first definition of HTTP/1.1 appeared in RFC 2068 in 1997, this became the first version of HTTP in common use.
The first version was then replaced by RFC 2616 in 1997, that was then replaced by RFC 7230 in 2014.
A successor, HTTP/2, a major revision of the HTTP network protocol, was standardised in 2015.