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Glossary Networking

UDP

UDP (User Datagram Protocol) is a fast, connectionless transport protocol that sends data without guaranteeing delivery or order.

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In more detail

There is no handshake and no retransmission, so UDP has little overhead and low delay. It suits traffic where a late packet is worse than a lost one: DNS lookups, video calls, online games, streaming and VPNs. Applications that need reliability add it themselves, as QUIC (the basis of HTTP/3) does. Compare TCP.

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Port Number Lookup

Look up the standard service name for a well-known TCP/UDP port, or search ports by service name.

See also

  • Glossary TCP
    TCP (Transmission Control Protocol) is the transport protocol that delivers data reliably and in order between two programs.
  • Glossary Port
    A port is a number from 0 to 65535 that tells a computer which program or service an incoming network connection is for.
  • Glossary Latency
    Latency is the delay between sending a request and starting to receive the response, usually measured in milliseconds.
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