200-901 Network Fundamentals Practice Question
Which THREE of the following are features of HTTP/2?
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Header compression (HPACK)
HTTP/2 introduces HPACK header compression (option A), which reduces overhead by compressing header fields using a static table, a dynamic table, and Huffman encoding, making it a defining feature of the protocol. It also uses binary framing (option D), splitting communication into binary-encoded frames (HEADERS, DATA, SETTINGS, etc.) instead of HTTP/1.1's textual format, which enables more efficient parsing and processing. Multiplexed streams (option E) allow many concurrent request/response exchanges over a single TCP connection, eliminating HTTP/1.1's head-of-line blocking at the application layer. Option B is incorrect because HTTP/2 headers are binary-encoded, not plain text, and option C is incorrect because persistent connections already existed in HTTP/1.1 and are not a new or distinguishing feature of HTTP/2.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
Header compression (HPACK)
Why this is correct
HPACK compresses request and response header fields using static and dynamic tables plus Huffman coding, cutting the repeated header overhead that plagued HTTP/1.1. This satisfies HTTP/2's requirement for reduced latency over many concurrent streams, since headers previously dominated each request's bytes.
- ✗
Plain text headers
Why it's wrong here
HTTP/2 compresses header fields with HPACK, transmitting them in binary form; plain text headers are an HTTP/1.1 trait. It tempts because HTTP/1.1 headers are human-readable ASCII, and developers debugging with curl still see decoded text, but that readability is lost on the wire under HTTP/2.
- ✗
Persistent connections
Why it's wrong here
Persistent connections already existed in HTTP/1.1 via keep-alive, so they are not a distinguishing HTTP/2 feature; HTTP/2 instead multiplexes many streams over one connection. It tempts because HTTP/2 does use a single long-lived connection, but that reuse is inherited rather than new.
- ✓
Binary framing
Why this is correct
Binary framing splits HTTP/2 traffic into discrete, length-prefixed frames on a single TCP connection, enabling multiplexed streams without head-of-line blocking at the application layer. This satisfies the stem's requirement for a genuine HTTP/2 feature, unlike HTTP/1.1's plaintext, newline-delimited message format.
- ✓
Multiplexed streams
Why this is correct
Multiplexed streams let multiple requests and responses travel concurrently over a single TCP connection, eliminating HTTP/1.1's head-of-line blocking at the application layer. This directly satisfies the stem's requirement for an HTTP/2 feature, as multiplexing is a defining capability introduced by the HTTP/2 binary framing layer.
Visual reference
Go deeper
Related to this question
About these practice questions
One of 975 original 200-901 practice questions on Courseiva, each with a full explanation and wrong-answer analysis — not exam dumps or protected exam content. Learn why practice questions differ from exam dumps →
JA
Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This 200-901 practice question is part of Courseiva's free Cisco certification practice question bank. Courseiva provides original exam-style practice questions with explanations, topic-based practice, mock exams, readiness tracking, and study analytics to help learners prepare for the 200-901 exam.