Abstract: Embodiments of this application provide a load balancing method and apparatus, to perform effective load balancing in a distributed CDN scenario. The method performs by a terminal device, includes: sending a first request message to a load balancing device, where the first request message is used to request to-be-transmitted data and an internet protocol IP address of a content delivery network CDN server; receiving a first response message sent by the CDN server, where the first response message includes a length of the to-be-transmitted data and the IP address of the CDN server, and a source IP address of the first response message is an IP address of the load balancing device; and if the terminal device determines that the length of the to-be-transmitted data is greater than or equal to a preset threshold, establishing a connection to the CDN server based on the IP address of the CDN server.