HTTP is an application layer protocol used to transfer web pages from a web server to a web client like a browser. It uses URLs to identify resources on the web. A URL contains the protocol, host, port, path, parameters, and anchor to uniquely identify a resource. Common elements of a URL include the http protocol, domain name or IP as the host, optional port 80, file path, query parameters, and anchor within a page. HTTP allows rapid transfer of text, images, audio, video and other data between servers and clients.