What is Form-Data?
Form-Data is an HTTP request content-type that allows for submitting form data, including form fields and files. It structures the data in key-value pairs so the receiving server can easily parse and handle the information.
Form-Data is most commonly used with HTML web forms. When a user submits a form, the form data gets encoded as Form-Data and sent to the server in an HTTP POST request. This allows the server to access the submitted values through the request body.
In addition to form fields, Form-Data also supports file uploads. The files get included along with the rest of the form data. This makes Form-Data useful for building web applications that need to upload files like images, documents, etc.
The Form-Data format is also popular with REST API requests. APIs can accept posted form information structured with Form-Data from client applications. This provides an alternative to formats like JSON for submitting data to a REST API.
Overall, Form-Data standardizes and structures form data for HTTP requests. This makes it useful for web forms, file upload features, REST APIs, and any application that needs to submit form payloads over HTTP.