A protocol for transmitting data. As contrasted to TCP, UDP is:
- packet-based
Data is sent as discrete packets. No buffering is performed and packets are sent as soon as the sending application generates them. - unreliable
UDP has no mechanism to notify the sending application whether a packet was delivered succesfully or was lost in transmission. - unordered
No guarantees are made as to the order that data is presented to the receiving application.
See: