Which statement best describes a Content Delivery Network (CDN) and why it is used?

• A. It blocks ads on websites.
• B. It caches copies of content on servers close to users to reduce latency and improve load times.
• C. It stores all content on a single central server.
• D. It replaces the origin server for all requests automatically.

Answer: (B)

CDNs speed up delivery by placing copies of content on servers that are geographically close to users. Edge servers cache static assets like images, videos, CSS, and JavaScript so when a user requests a page, the data can be served from a nearby location instead of traveling all the way to the main server. This proximity reduces latency, which means faster load times, and it also helps handle spikes in traffic by spreading the load across many servers. That’s why caching copies of content near users to improve load times is the best description of what a CDN does and why it’s used.

Blocking ads isn’t what a CDN does, and storing everything on a single central server would actually slow things down and create a single point of failure. A CDN doesn’t replace the origin server for all requests; it serves content from edge caches and fetches from the origin when needed, helping to keep delivery fast and reliable.