HTTP vs HTTPS Website Addresses
HTTP and HTTPS are web URL schemes. HTTPS uses TLS to protect the connection; HTTP does not provide that transport encryption.
Examples at a glance
HTTP
- Example
http://example.com/Uses port 80 by default. Does not provide transport encryption.
HTTPS
- Example
https://example.com/Uses port 443 by default. Protects the connection with TLS.
The scheme changes the connection
https://example.com:443/ normalizes to https://example.com/. A non-default port such as :8443 remains visible. Changing the text to HTTPS does not make an HTTP-only service support TLS.
Encryption is not a trust verdict
HTTPS protects data in transit to the authenticated origin under the browser’s certificate checks. A deceptive site can also use HTTPS; the scheme alone is not a guarantee about the operator or content.