ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Content negotiation

Okay, so you know how sometimes people speak different languages or have different ways of communicating? Just like that, websites and web browsers also have different ways of communicating.

Content negotiation is a way to help websites and web browsers talk to each other and understand what type of information they can share. It's like a translator that helps them communicate better.

Let's say you want to visit a website, but your web browser is set to speak English and the website has information in Spanish. This is where content negotiation comes in. The website and your web browser will use a special code to talk to each other and figure out a way to share the information.

Content negotiation can also help with things like images and videos. If you have a slow internet connection, you might want to see a lower-quality image or video so that it loads faster. Content negotiation helps the website and your web browser figure out what works best for both of them.

Overall, content negotiation is a way to help websites and web browsers work together and share information in the best way possible. It's like a language translator, but for the internet!