Networking - Miscellaneous - TCP vs UDP

TCP (Transmission Control Protocol) and UDP (User Datagram Protocol) are two prominent transport layer protocols used in computer networks. 

TCP (Transmission Control Protocol):

  • Connection-oriented protocol.
  • Provides reliable, ordered, and error-checked delivery of data packets.
  • Guarantees the delivery of packets by using acknowledgments and retransmissions.
  • Offers flow control and congestion control mechanisms to manage data transmission.
  • Uses a three-way handshake to establish a connection before data exchange.
  • Provides error detection through checksum verification.
  • Suitable for applications that require guaranteed delivery and data integrity, such as web browsing, email, file transfer (FTP), and reliable streaming.

UDP (User Datagram Protocol):

  • Connectionless protocol.
  • Provides fast and lightweight delivery of data packets.
  • Does not guarantee the delivery or order of packets.
  • Does not perform retransmissions or flow control.
  • Does not establish a connection before data exchange.
  • Does not provide built-in error detection or correction mechanisms.
  • Suitable for real-time applications, multimedia streaming, VoIP, online gaming, and scenarios where low latency is crucial.

Key differences between TCP and UDP:

  • Reliability: TCP ensures reliable delivery through acknowledgments and retransmissions, while UDP does not guarantee delivery.
  • Order: TCP delivers data packets in the order they were sent, while UDP does not enforce any specific order.
  • Connection-oriented vs connectionless: TCP establishes a connection before data transfer, while UDP does not require a connection setup.
  • Overhead: TCP has additional overhead due to sequencing, acknowledgments, and flow control mechanisms, while UDP has lower overhead.
  • Speed: UDP is generally faster than TCP due to its lightweight nature and lack of additional processing.
  • Error detection: TCP performs error detection using checksums, while UDP does not have built-in error detection.
  • Use cases: TCP is suitable for applications that require reliable delivery, while UDP is used for real-time applications and situations where speed and low latency are prioritized.