4xx Client Errors
HTTP 416 Range Not Satisfiable
The byte range requested cannot be fulfilled.
When is 416 used?
- Requested file range exceeds file size
- Invalid resume offset for downloads
How to handle a 416 response
Inspect the request — URL, method, headers, credentials, and body. Retrying the same request unchanged will usually fail again; 429 is the exception, where you should wait for the Retry-After period.
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 416 from your server
Node.js (Express)
res.status(416).json({ message: 'Range Not Satisfiable' });Python (Flask)
return {"message": "Range Not Satisfiable"}, 416Go (net/http)
w.WriteHeader(416)Frequently Asked Questions
What does HTTP 416 mean?
416 Range Not Satisfiable: The byte range requested cannot be fulfilled.
Is 416 an error?
Yes. 416 is in the 4xx Client Errors class. Client errors: the request is malformed, unauthorized, or targets something that does not exist.