Which port is typically used for Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure (HTTPS) traffic?

The port typically used for Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure (HTTPS) traffic is 443. This port is designated for secure communication over the internet, ensuring that data exchanged between a web browser and a server is encrypted to protect against eavesdropping and man-in-the-middle attacks.

When a user accesses a website that starts with "https://," the browser communicates over port 443, utilizing protocols like Transport Layer Security (TLS) or Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) to establish a secure connection. In contrast, port 80 is used for standard HTTP traffic, which does not include the encryption that HTTPS provides. Ports 21 and 25 are designated for FTP (File Transfer Protocol) and SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol) respectively, and are not used for web traffic at all. This illustrates that understanding the specific roles of different ports is essential for managing internet communications securely.