Glossary: Hyper Text Transfer Protocol (HTTP)

The Hyper Text Transfer Protocol is the protocol used by network devices such as IP cameras and PCs for transmitting information across the internet. The Protocol was designed by CERN in Switzerland in the late 1980s as an easy way of transferring text documents. The project grew rapidly and now almost every website in the world uses it.

IP cameras usually have a built in HTTP server to ease configuration and viewing. This is what you see when you log into your camera. These usually use port 80, although most cameras allow this to be changed if necessary.

Published on January 16th, 2009 by James Drinkwater