---
answer: direct
beat: web-performance
source: 1 article · updated: November 14, 2026
---

What is head-of-line blocking and does HTTP/2 remove it?

It is when one delayed item holds up everything behind it. HTTP/2 removes it at the HTTP level, but all streams share one TCP connection, so a single lost packet stalls every stream until retransmitted. HTTP/3 moves to QUIC, where streams are independent, to remove it at the transport level.

Answered in

HTTP/1.1, HTTP/2 and HTTP/3: What Each Version Fixed and What It Left Broken

Persistent connections, multiplexing, header compression and QUIC: each HTTP version removed one bottleneck and exposed the next. How to choose and verify.

Crashtech Editorial November 14, 2026 Web Performance

Read the full analysis

Other questions this article answers

More web performance questions

Every answer on Crashtech is written by the editor of the article it comes from — never auto-summarised. Browse all answers or the Web Performance beat.