Masterarbeit
Exploring Approaches for Large File Uploads in the Web-Browser Context
Completion
2024/05
Research Area
Advisers
Description
The digital landscape is experiencing a steady increase in
user-generated data, mainly driven by content uploads to various online platforms. The
variety of upload sizes, from small documents to massive multimedia files, poses a
challenge. Existing file upload methods in the web browser context rely primarily on the
HTTP protocol, which has shortcomings.
Limitations within HTTP versions, such
as concurrent connection limits, head-of-line
blocking, etc., prevent optimal
performance. Bandwidth issues, potential connection failures, and browser and server size
limitations compound these limitations. Given these challenges, ensuring consistent,
efficient, and error-free large file uploads remains a critical concern. This thesis
embarks on a comprehensive exploration of mechanisms for improving large file uploads
within web browsers. The research aims to dissect existing protocols and technologies to
identify their strengths and limitations. By examining browser and server configurations,
layer seven and layer four protocols, the study seeks to uncover opportunities for
optimization. The focus of this thesis is on researching different methods for large file
transfer in the web browser context and developing a robust solution incorporating and
enhancing on the previously examined methods that mitigates the challenges posed by large
file uploading in the browser. Through practical experimentation and testing across
various browsers and network environments, the thesis aims to provide insight into the
most effective strategies for optimizing large file uploads, answering critical questions
about improving upload efficiency and reliability. The objective of this thesis is the
development of a solution to enable efficient large file uploads from the client-side in a
web browser environment as well as a comprehensive study on the state of the art in this
research context. A prototypical implementation of the concept is to be demonstrated and
compared to the studied methods by simulating different plausible scenarios, e.g., when
the server is under high load or a disconnect occurs during file uploading.
