2xx Success
HTTP 206 Partial Content
The server is delivering only part of the resource due to a Range header in the request.
When is 206 used?
- Resume interrupted downloads
- Streaming large files in chunks
- PDF/image range requests
How to handle a 206 response
No error handling is needed. Check that the response body and headers match what your client expects — for example, a 204 response has no body.
Check the status code a URL returns from the command line:
curl -s -o /dev/null -w "%{http_code}\n" https://example.comHow to return 206 from your server
Node.js (Express)
res.status(206).json({ message: 'Partial Content' });Python (Flask)
return {"message": "Partial Content"}, 206Go (net/http)
w.WriteHeader(206)Frequently Asked Questions
What does HTTP 206 mean?
206 Partial Content: The server is delivering only part of the resource due to a Range header in the request.
Is 206 an error?
No. 206 is in the 2xx Success class. Success: the request was received, understood, and accepted.