What is .htaccess caching?

The .htaccess file is a configuration file used on Apache web servers. It includes instructions for configuring server settings such as directory protection, rewrite rules, MIME types, and more.

Because processing .htaccess files requires additional CPU time each time a request is processed, it can impact server performance. To avoid this, .htaccess files can be cached.

Caching of .htaccess files can be done in a number of ways, depending on the web server software being used. For example, the Apache web server can be configured with the mod_cache module to cache .htaccess files.

When .htaccess files are cached, processing is accelerated and server load is reduced, resulting in better server performance.