Transmission Control Protocol

Also known as TCP, Three-way handshake, SYN_(TCP), three times handshake

principal protocol used to stream data across an IP network

AI overview

The Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) is the main method that computers use to reliably send information back and forth across the internet. It matters because it ensures that data arrives completely and in the correct order, which is essential for activities like browsing websites, sending emails, and video calls.

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Image: Tcp-handshake.svg

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Stack Exchange tag: security.stackexchange.com/tags/tcp
Commons category: Transmission Control Protocol
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Article

The Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) is one of the main protocols of the Internet protocol suite, providing reliable, ordered, and error-checked delivery of a stream of octets (bytes) between applications running on hosts communicating via an IP network. It originated in the initial network implementation in which it complemented the Internet Protocol (IP). Therefore, the entire suite is commonly referred to as TCP/IP.

Major internet applications such as the World Wide Web, email, remote administration, file transfer and streaming media rely on TCP, which is part of the transport layer of the TCP/IP suite. SSL/TLS often runs on top of TCP. Today, TCP remains a core protocol for most Internet communication, ensuring reliable data transfer across diverse networks.