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Range Header

Requests only part of a resource by specifying one or more byte ranges.

Header TypeRequest Header
SpecificationStandard RFC compliant
Associated CodesHTTP 206,HTTP 416,HTTP 200

What is the Range header?

The Range request header, defined in RFC 9110, asks the server to return only a portion of a resource instead of the whole thing. It is most commonly expressed in bytes, letting clients fetch a specific slice of a file.

API Usage & Best Practices

  • Resumable downloads: Clients can request the bytes they are missing (for example after a dropped connection) rather than starting the transfer over from scratch.
  • Streaming & seeking: Media players use ranges to jump ahead in audio or video without downloading everything before that point.
  • Handle the responses: A successful partial request returns 206 Partial Content. If the requested range cannot be satisfied, the server responds with 416 Range Not Satisfiable; a server that ignores the header simply returns the full resource with 200 OK.

Examples

GET /video.mp4 HTTP/1.1
Host: cdn.example.com
Range: bytes=0-1023

Associated HTTP Status Codes

HTTP 200 — OK

The request has succeeded. The response payload contains the requested resource representation.

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HTTP 206 — Partial Content

The server is delivering only part of the resource due to a Range header sent by the client.

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HTTP 416 — Range Not Satisfiable

The requested byte range cannot be satisfied by the server.

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