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3. User Datagram Protocol (UDP)
| Layer | Protocol | Layer Name |
|---|---|---|
| 4 | APPLICATION | |
| 3 | UDP - a connectionless protocol | TRANSPORT |
| 2 | INTERNET or IP | |
| 1 | NETWORK or DATA LINK |
The User Datagram Protocol (UDP) is part of the Internet Protocol family.
It resides in the Transport Layer of the Four Layer Model just like TCP. However, unlike TCP, UDP is a 'connectionless' protocol.
'Connectionless' means it does not do any handshaking with the recipient device to make data transfer more reliable. Instead it just sends datagrams (data packets) directly, and assumes that it will be error free.
UDP is often used in video conferencing and real-time computer games. This is because dropping or losing the occassional datagram will not adversely affect a video conference.
There are other protocols, such as TCP/IP which does perform handshaking and error correction. However, the data transfer rate using TCP/IP would be slower, than with UDP.
Challenge see if you can find out one extra fact on this topic that we haven't already told you
Click on this link: What is UDP protocol