University of Michigan - Ann Arbor

TCP and UDP represent opposing architectural trade-offs for transport-layer communication over the Internet Protocol (IP):

- **Reliability vs. Overhead**: TCP establishes connections via a three-way handshake, numbers packets, requires acknowledgments, and retransmits lost data, which ensures complete, ordered delivery at the cost of setup delay and transmission overhead. In contrast, UDP sends data immediately with no handshake, no acknowledgments, and no retransmissions, minimizing latency and overhead at the expense of delivery and ordering guarantees.
- **Application Selection Rule of Thumb**: Use TCP for accuracy when every byte must arrive correctly (e.g., loading web pages, sending email, transferring files). Use UDP for timeliness when real-time delivery is prioritized over perfection and minor packet loss is acceptable (e.g., live video broadcasts, voice calls, interactive online games).

Comparison of TCP and UDP

Which mechanism does TCP use to ensure that lost data is recovered during transmission?

UDP guarantees that packets arrive in the exact order they were sent.

According to the general rule of thumb, why are applications like voice calls and live video broadcasts better suited for UDP rather than TCP?

Compare how TCP and UDP handle connection establishment and data delivery guarantees, and explain the trade-offs in overhead and latency associated with each approach.

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