What service is provided by HTTP?

HTTP, or Hypertext Transfer Protocol, is primarily a protocol that facilitates the transfer of hypertext documents, such as HTML, over the World Wide Web. This means that it establishes the rules and standards for exchanging various types of multimedia files, including text, images, audio, and video, between clients (like web browsers) and servers where these files are hosted.

When a user requests a webpage, their browser uses HTTP to communicate with the web server and retrieve the requested HTML document and any other associated multimedia files that enhance the page. This sets up a standard method for browsers to request and servers to respond to these requests, ensuring that web content can be delivered in a consistent and usable manner.

Understanding the nature of HTTP also clarifies why the other options are not suitable. The service that HTTP provides centers around the transfer of documents and multimedia rather than encryption, secure file transfer, or coding standards, which are addressed by other protocols and standards.