What is an HTTP Error? 6 Most Common HTTP Error Code

Have you ever encounter an HTTP error and wonder, ‘what is an HTTP error’?

You are browsing the Internet, and instead of the page you are looking for, an error page opens up.

These errors are common problems on the Internet, and they happen when the server encounters an issue in delivering what was requested.

What is an HTTP Error?

HTTP error is a response code in reply of the request sent by the browser when the webserver fails to serve the requested data. This response code tells the reason for the failure of the response, in the form of an error code.

If you don’t know how Internet works, the basic is, the browser sends the request with HTTP. The web server responds with the asked data. At the end, the browser displays the data in the readable form.

There are many types of HTTP errors, but few are more common.

In this article, I am going to mention the most common HTTP error so you can understand what HTTP error means. When the next time you stumbled upon any HTTP error, you will know what it actually means.

Most Common HTTP Error:

1. HTTP Error 401 – Unauthorized
2. HTTP Error 400 – Bad Request
3. HTTP Error 404 – Page Not Found
4. HTTP Error 403 – Forbidden Error
5. HTTP Error 500 – Internal Error
6. HTTP Error 503 – Service Unavailable

#1 HTTP Error 401 – Unauthorized

The 401 Error indicates the unauthorized access to the web pages. It means that the request sent by the client is not authentic.

Not all the data of the web is open to surf for the public. The larger part of it is hidden and requires authentic access. When the client fails to provide a credible request, the server responds with HTTP error 401.

#2 HTTP Error 400 – Bad Request

The HTTP Error 400 means that the servers do not understand the request that the client has sent. The request could be incorrect or corrupted or does not have complete information.

Most of the time, the problem is with the website, not from the client-side.

#3 HTTP Error 404 – Page Not Found

HTTP error 404 is the most common HTTP error. 

It means that the page requested does not exist, or moved, or deleted. The page is not on the server. Hence, the server cannot fetch it and send it back to you.

HTTP Error happens when the client sends the misspelled URL to load. In other words, this means that there is no web page corresponding to the entered URL.

#4 HTTP Error 403 – Forbidden Error

As I said earlier, not all web pages are publicly available to access by everyone. HTTP 403 Error means that the webserver is not letting you access the pages or data that you asked for.

The power of the web property set the permissions to the resources to be allowed to visible or not. If a folder or file is a restricted one, the web server will respond with HTTP Error 403.

#5 HTTP Error 500 – Internal Server Error

It is a general HTTP error that does not have any definitive explanation. It means that there is some unresolved internal issue with the server, so it cannot parse the request or send the response accordingly.

When something goes wrong on the website’s server, the page loads to displays the HTTP Error 500 page. The reason might be high concurrent traffic and not enough bandwidth or the lack of storage.

Whatever the reason, if there is an issue with the website server that is not specific, it will return 500 Error.

#6 HTTP Error 503 – Service Unavailable

It is a temporary issue message. 

If you see this message, it means that the webserver is not currently available. It may be because of a temporary overload of traffic on the site or scheduled maintenance.

Reload the page or try again later, and you may find the issue has resolved itself. The web owners have to maintain this site by keeping them updated regularly. It happens when there is usually less traffic, but when it happens, the webserver responds with a 503 error.

Wrap Up

Well, these are the few common HTTP errors that you came across if you are a consistent Internet surfer.

Some of them are client-side errors, while others are server-side errors. However, all of them are resolvable.

I hope you find the answer to what is an error, if there is still any doubt, leave them in the comments.