A Content Delivery Network (CDN) is a distributed network of servers that caches and delivers files from locations closer to visitors. Depending on the service, a CDN can deliver static assets, media, downloads, or complete proxied pages.
Origin-pull delivery
CDN for Joomla! is designed for origin-pull delivery. The website remains the origin and continues to render the HTML page. The page contains URLs using the CDN hostname. When a requested file is not already cached, the CDN retrieves it from the origin, stores it according to its cache rules, and returns it to the visitor.
Possible benefits
- Lower asset latency when cached files are served from a location closer to the visitor.
- Less repeated file traffic on the origin when the CDN serves cached responses.
- More consistent delivery during traffic peaks, depending on the CDN service and cache coverage.
These benefits are not automatic. Results depend on cache headers and rules, file sizes, visitor locations, TLS and HTTP configuration, and the provider's network.
How CDN for Joomla! fits in
CDN for Joomla! only changes matching local file URLs in Joomla's rendered output. It does not create a CDN account, configure provider cache rules, upload files, or proxy the Joomla HTML page.