300 Multiple Choices

When more than one representation exists for a requested resource, the server responds with 300 Multiple Choices. The client is responsible for selecting the option best fitting its requirements.

The response is cacheable by default. To override this behavior, include appropriate Cache-Control headers.

Table of Contents

Usage

When the 300 Multiple Choices status code is received, the message body contents differ depending on the request method. A HEAD request includes no message body. For other methods, the body contains a list from which the client selects the most appropriate response.

For non-HEAD responses, the body contains the list of available choices. The Link header with rel="alternate" is also used to identify each option. If a default response exists or the server has a preferred choice, the Location header identifies this preference.

Example

The client requests a resource and the server offers multiple options. The headers include paths to each resource. Because this follows a GET request, the body provides a clickable list of options.

Request

GET /tech-news HTTP/1.1
Host: www.example.re

Response

HTTP/1.1 300 Multiple Choices
Link: </leading/news.html>; rel="alternate"
Link: </bleeding/news.html>; rel="alternate"
Location: </leading/news.html>
Content-Type: text/html
Content-Length: 164

<h2>Choose from one of the following</h2>
<ul>
  <li><a href=/leading/news.html>Leading edge</a>
  <li><a href=/bleeding/news.html>Bleeding edge</a>
</ul>

Browser behavior

Most browsers do not present a selection interface when receiving a 300 response. When a Location header is present, browsers typically follow the preferred option automatically, similar to a 302 redirect. Without a Location header, the browser renders the response body, which contains the list of available choices. In practice, 300 is rarely encountered because Content-Negotiation handles format selection transparently.

Code references

.NET

HttpStatusCode.MultipleChoices

Rust

http::StatusCode::MULTIPLE_CHOICES

Rails

:multiple_choices

Go

http.StatusMultipleChoices

Symfony

Response::HTTP_MULTIPLE_CHOICES

Python3.5+

http.HTTPStatus.MULTIPLE_CHOICES

Java

java.net.HttpURLConnection.HTTP_MULT_CHOICE

Apache HttpComponents Core

org.apache.hc.core5.http.HttpStatus.SC_MULTIPLE_CHOICES

Angular

@angular/common/http/HttpStatusCode.MultipleChoices

See also

Last updated: April 4, 2026