What Is a CDN?

A CDN, or content delivery network, is a system of distributed servers that helps deliver website content from locations closer to the user. The goal is simple: reduce delay and improve performance.

Why Distance Matters

When a site is served from one faraway location, every visitor has to reach back to that same place for assets like images, scripts, and stylesheets. A CDN spreads that load across multiple locations, so users can often get those files from a nearer server.

That usually means faster loading and less strain on the origin server.

What a CDN Usually Delivers

CDNs commonly handle static assets such as images, videos, fonts, scripts, and cached page content. Some also provide security features like traffic filtering, rate limiting, and DDoS mitigation.

So a CDN is often about both speed and protection, not just one or the other.

A CDN Does Not Replace Hosting

This is a common misconception. A CDN does not replace the origin server where the main site lives. It sits in front of or alongside that infrastructure to distribute and cache content more efficiently.

Think of it as an optimization layer, not the whole foundation.

Summary

A CDN helps websites load faster by serving content from locations closer to users and reducing strain on the main server. It is a performance and reliability tool rather than a replacement for hosting. For related concepts, see What Is Web Hosting? and What Is Latency?.