The Nginx team has released version 1.28, the latest stable branch with HTTP/3 support enabled by default.
HTTP/3 and QUIC
HTTP/3 over QUIC is now included in the standard nginx build without requiring the --with-http_v3_module compile flag. This means all major Linux distribution packages will include HTTP/3 support out of the box.
Key Features
- QUIC Load Balancing — Connection ID-aware load balancing for QUIC connections across multiple backend servers
- Dynamic Upstreams — API-based upstream server management without reload, available in the open-source version
- Improved SSL — OCSP stapling improvements and support for post-quantum key exchange algorithms
- Variable Enhancements — New variables for QUIC connection attributes and improved map module performance
Performance
Benchmarks show HTTP/3 delivering 15-25% faster page loads on high-latency connections compared to HTTP/2, with significantly better performance on unreliable networks (mobile, satellite).
Web administrators should begin testing HTTP/3 configurations in staging environments before the next LTS cycle.
