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7/24/2026
TCP or UDP? Choosing the Right Protocol

TCP or UDP? Choosing the Right Protocol

Short summary

This article compares TCP and UDP transport protocols using analogies, explaining that TCP prioritizes reliability with handshakes, acknowledgments, and retransmission while UDP prioritizes speed with no guarantees. TCP suits file downloads and bank transactions where data integrity matters; UDP suits video calls, gaming, and DNS where latency matters more. The piece also covers QUIC/HTTP/3 as a UDP-based reliable transport.

  • •TCP guarantees reliable, ordered delivery via handshakes, ACKs, and congestion control — ideal for file downloads and transactions
  • •UDP prioritizes speed with no guarantees — ideal for video calls, gaming, live streaming, and DNS
  • •QUIC runs over UDP and powers HTTP/3 by implementing reliability in user space, avoiding TCP limitations

Generated with AI, which can make mistakes.

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