```yaml
product: AlterLab
title: "HTTPS — Web Scraping Glossary | AlterLab"
comparison_context: "AlterLab is an alternative to Firecrawl, ScrapingBee, and Bright Data."
source_url: https://alterlab.io/glossary/https
```

protocol

# HTTPS

HTTPS is HTTP secured with TLS encryption, ensuring that request and response data cannot be read or modified by intermediaries between the client and the server.

HTTPS (HTTP Secure) wraps the HTTP application layer inside a TLS tunnel. Every request and response is encrypted: the target URL path, headers, and body are all hidden from network observers. Only the destination domain name (SNI) is visible in the TLS ClientHello before encryption begins.

For scrapers, HTTPS is the default for virtually all modern websites. The primary scraping implication is that HTTPS connections require a TLS handshake that adds latency (mitigated by connection pooling and session resumption) and exposes a TLS fingerprint. Using a proxy with HTTPS requires the proxy to perform a CONNECT tunnel, preserving end-to-end encryption, or to act as a TLS-terminating proxy (man-in-the-middle), which requires the scraper to trust the proxy's certificate.

HTTP Strict Transport Security (HSTS) causes browsers and scraping clients to automatically upgrade HTTP requests to HTTPS, preventing accidental plain-text connections.

### What is HTTPS?

HTTPS is HTTP secured with TLS encryption, ensuring that request and response data cannot be read or modified by intermediaries between the client and the server.

### How does AlterLab handle HTTPS?

HTTP Strict Transport Security (HSTS) causes browsers and scraping clients to automatically upgrade HTTP requests to HTTPS, preventing accidental plain-text connections.

## Related Terms

[HTTPHTTP (HyperText Transfer Protocol) is the application-layer protocol used by web browsers and scrapers to request and receive resources from web servers.](https://alterlab.io/glossary/http)[TLS FingerprintA signature derived from TLS handshake parameters a client sends when opening an HTTPS connection, used by anti-bot systems to classify traffic.](https://alterlab.io/glossary/tls-fingerprint)[TLS CertificateA TLS certificate authenticates a server's identity and enables encrypted HTTPS communication between a browser or scraper and the target web server.](https://alterlab.io/glossary/tls-certificate)[Proxy PoolA managed collection of proxy IP addresses used to distribute outbound requests across multiple origins and stay below per-IP rate limits.](https://alterlab.io/glossary/proxy-pool)[HTTP HeadersKey-value metadata fields sent with HTTP requests and responses that communicate authentication, content type, caching, and other directives.](https://alterlab.io/glossary/http-headers)

## Extract HTTPS data from any website

AlterLab returns clean, structured data from any public URL — no scraper infrastructure needed. Start free, no credit card required.

[View API docs](https://alterlab.io/docs/api/rest)

[Back to Glossary](https://alterlab.io/glossary)