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Why QUIC handshake is quicker

built-in low latency handshake is QUIC's headline feature.

  • by combining TCP and TLS exchanges into one

QUIC limits a 3x factor of the init to modest amplification threat

  • with ~200B for QUIC framing, TLS server hello, encrypted extensions and Finished
  • the TLS certificate chain is one large source of variable

Handshake performance is normally bound by latency, and the only controllable factor is the number of round trips

Using compression can significantly reduce the number of datagram for the handshake. (Increase at least 35% in the test)

A larger initial datagram from the client is better to maximize the bytes the server is allowed to reply to, which maximizes the handshakes that can be completed in one round trip.