What does HTTP status 206 (Partial Content) mean?

HTTP_STATUS_PARTIAL_CONTENT

A 206 response is produced after a valid Range request. The Content-Range header identifies the returned interval and the complete representation length when known.

Download clients should combine ranges only when validators such as ETag or Last-Modified show that the representation has not changed between requests.

RFC 9110: HTTP Semantics

Operational meaning of HTTP 206 for HTTP_STATUS_PARTIAL_CONTENT

HTTP 206 (this result) is a successful response. AllStat records its meaning as “206 Partial Content”. Interpret it with the request method, selected representation, response headers, and the specification or product that defines the code; the number alone does not prove that application work completed.

Client and server handling

• Verify what work the response representation says was completed; this result can still describe asynchronous or partial handling.
• use validators, location/status links, and application identifiers supplied by the server.
• do not retry a non-idempotent request merely because the client did not understand the response body.

For telemetry, record HTTP 206, method, authority, route template rather than secrets, response headers relevant to caching or retry, latency, upstream identity, and whether the response originated at the application or an intermediary.

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