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What is the Difference between a URI and a URL?

Blog post from Rapid

Post Details
Company
Date Published
Author
RapidAPI Staff
Word Count
657
Language
English
Hacker News Points
-
Summary

The article explores the distinctions between URIs (Uniform Resource Identifiers) and URLs (Uniform Resource Locators), two commonly confused acronyms in the tech world. A URI is a sequence of characters used to uniquely identify a resource on the web by its location, name, or both, and includes two types: URNs and URLs. In contrast, a URL is specifically a locator that identifies the network location of a resource, often specifying the protocol used to access it, such as HTTP, HTTPS, or FTP. Consequently, while a URL is a specific type of URI, focused on providing the address or location of a resource, a URI serves a broader purpose in identifying resources regardless of the method. Hence, all URLs are URIs, but not all URIs are URLs, highlighting the nuanced relationship between these two terms.