Transfer-Encoding Inspect

Parse and diagnose HTTP headers and routing signals in your browser. No input is sent to a server. Use it for first-pass observation-gap troubleshooting.

Status

Runs in your browser. No input is sent to a server. Use this as a first-pass diagnostic step.

How to use

Paste Transfer-Encoding or Response Headers and click “Parse”. It summarizes applied encodings and checks.

Notes (this tool)

  • Accepts Transfer-Encoding: header lines (multi-line paste is OK).
  • Transfer-Encoding is typically not used with Content-Length.

About this page

What does this tool do?

Split Transfer-Encoding to list transfer codings such as chunked.

Useful for diagnosing missing Content-Length or truncated downloads.

Basics (role of Transfer-Encoding)

  • Transfer-Encoding indicates how the message body is transferred.
  • chunked is used when the body size is not known upfront.
  • It should generally not be used with Content-Length.

Input examples

  • Transfer-Encoding: chunked
  • Transfer-Encoding: gzip, chunked
  • Paste full Response Headers

Encoding order

When multiple codings are listed, order matters. The last is typically chunked.

Common pitfalls

  • Sending both Content-Length and Transfer-Encoding
  • Improper chunked termination causes clients to hang
  • Proxies/CDNs may rewrite Transfer-Encoding

Debugging workflow (recommended)

  • Extract Transfer-Encoding via Response Headers Parser
  • Summarize transfer codings with this tool
  • Check coexistence with Content-Length Inspect
  • Content-Length Inspect
  • Content-Encoding Inspect
  • Response Headers Parser

What this tool does

  • Parse and list Transfer-Encoding values
  • Summarize order and pitfalls

Operational notes

  • Intermediaries may rewrite headers. Compare captures from equivalent points.
  • Confirm final decisions with server logs and configuration such as trusted proxy and routing.

Referenced specs

  • RFC 9110 (HTTP Semantics)
  • MDN: Transfer-Encoding

FAQ

Is it a problem if Transfer-Encoding is missing?

Not if Content-Length is present. If both are missing, length may be inferred by connection close.

References

  1. RFC 9110
  2. MDN: Transfer-Encoding

These links are generated from site_map rules in recommended diagnostic order.

  1. Content-Encoding Inspect — Parse Content-Encoding to verify applied compression
  2. Accept-Encoding Inspect — Parse Accept-Encoding and inspect compression negotiation
  3. Content-Length Inspect — Parse Content-Length and inspect size consistency
  4. Vary Inspect — Parse Vary and visualize cache variation keys

Compression/Transfer

Use Accept/Content/Transfer-Encoding plus Vary to isolate compression mismatches