Comparative Analysis of Performance and Latency Mitigation Transition from HTTP2 to HTTP3 (QUIC) in Modern Networks

The continuous evolution of web technologies has increased the demand for transport protocols capable of delivering lower latency, higher reliability, and improved network efficiency. This study presents a comparative analysis of the transition from HTTP/2 to HTTP/3, which is based on the QUIC transport protocol over UDP. Using a systematic literature review supported by the PRISMA methodology, Design Science Research (DSR), and the ISO/IEC 25010 quality model, the research evaluates the impact of HTTP/3 on latency mitigation, congestion control, throughput, computational overhead, and security. The findings indicate that HTTP/3 significantly reduces latency in unstable and high-loss network environments by eliminating Head-of-Line (HoL) blocking and enabling faster connection establishment through 0-RTT and 1-RTT handshakes. However, the protocol also introduces challenges, including increased CPU utilization in ultra-high-speed networks, limited optimization when reverse proxies are involved, and new security concerns such as TOCTOU vulnerabilities. The study concludes that although HTTP/3 improves user experience and network resilience, it also shifts performance bottlenecks from the transport layer to the application layer, highlighting the need for future hardware acceleration and enhanced security mechanisms.