What are examples of TCP and UDP in real life?

tcp udp
Leon picture Leon · Mar 16, 2011 · Viewed 245.2k times · Source

I know the difference between the two on a technical level.

But in real life, can anyone provide examples (the more the better) of applications (uses) of TCP and UDP to demonstrate the difference?

Answer

Erik picture Erik · Mar 16, 2011

UDP: Anything where you don't care too much if you get all data always

  • Tunneling/VPN (lost packets are ok - the tunneled protocol takes care of it)
  • Media streaming (lost frames are ok)
  • Games that don't care if you get every update
  • Local broadcast mechanisms (same application running on different machines "discovering" each other)

TCP: Almost anything where you have to get all transmitted data

  • Web
  • SSH, FTP, telnet
  • SMTP, sending mail
  • IMAP/POP, receiving mail

EDIT: I'm not going to bother explaining the differences, since you state that you already know and every other answer explains it anyway :)

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