Comparing TCP & UDP
TCP provides more features than UDP, but at the cost of additional overhead.
For applications that require reliable communications (for example downloading a file), TCP is preferred.
For applications like real-time voice and video, UDP is preferred.
There are some applications that use UDP, but provide reliability etc within the application itself.
Some applications use both TCP & UDP, depending on the situation.
TCP | UDP |
---|---|
Connection-oriented | Connectionless |
Reliable | Unreliable |
Sequencing | No sequencing |
Flow control | No flow control |
Use for downloads, file sharing, etc | Used for VoIP, live video, etc |
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