HTTP is the foundation of data communication for the World Wide Web. It is a protocol for transferring various forms of data between a client and server. HTTP works by establishing a TCP connection between a client and server, through which HTTP request and response messages are exchanged. These messages include request methods like GET and POST, as well as response status codes like 200 for success and 404 for not found. HTTP is a stateless protocol, but cookies and caching allow servers to identify users and reduce response times.