WWW-Authenticate

The HTTP WWW-Authenticate response header defines the authentication method that should be used to gain access to a resource.

The WWW-Authenticate header is sent along with a 401 Unauthorized response.

Header type Response header
Forbidden header name no

Syntax

WWW-Authenticate: <type> realm=<realm>[, charset="UTF-8"]

Directives

<type>
Authentication type. A common type is "Basic". IANA maintains a list of Authentication schemes.
realm=<realm>
A description of the protected area. If no realm is specified, clients often display a formatted hostname instead.
charset=<charset>
Tells the client the server's prefered encoding scheme when submitting a username and password. The only allowed value is the case insensitive string "UTF-8". This does not relate to the encoding of the realm string.

Examples

Typically, a server response contains a WWW-Authenticate header that looks like these:

WWW-Authenticate: Basic

WWW-Authenticate: Basic realm="Access to the staging site", charset="UTF-8"

See also HTTP authentication for examples on how to configure Apache or nginx servers to password protect your site with HTTP basic authentication.

Specifications

Specification Title
RFC 7235, section 4.1: WWW-Authenticate HTTP/1.1: Authentication
RFC 7617 The 'Basic' HTTP Authentication Scheme

Browser compatibility

DesktopMobile
ChromeEdgeFirefoxInternet ExplorerOperaSafariAndroid webviewChrome for AndroidFirefox for AndroidOpera for AndroidSafari on iOSSamsung Internet
WWW-AuthenticateChrome Full support 1Edge Full support 12Firefox Full support 1IE Full support 1Opera Full support YesSafari ? WebView Android Full support 37Chrome Android Full support YesFirefox Android Full support YesOpera Android Full support YesSafari iOS ? Samsung Internet Android Full support Yes

Legend

Full support
Full support
Compatibility unknown
Compatibility unknown

See also