What is CDN?
Also called: Content Delivery Network
The short answer
A CDN is a network of servers around the world that keeps copies of a site's files and serves each visitor from the location nearest to them.
CDN, explained
Distance is delay. A CDN turns a round trip across an ocean into one across a city, and absorbs traffic spikes and attacks along the way.
Questions people ask about CDN
What is CDN?
A CDN is a network of servers around the world that keeps copies of a site's files and serves each visitor from the location nearest to them.
Related terms
A cache is a stored copy of something, like a page or image, kept closer to the visitor so it loads instantly next time instead of being fetched again.
Web hostingWeb hosting is the service that stores a website's files on internet-connected servers and delivers them to visitors around the clock.
Edge functionsEdge functions are small pieces of server code that run in data centres close to each visitor, so dynamic responses arrive with minimal delay.
Time to First ByteTime to First Byte is how long the browser waits after requesting a page before the first byte of the response arrives; it reflects server and network speed.
Part of the Web Encyclopedia by Apex Flow Digital. Definitions are general knowledge, kept current, with no invented statistics.