Choose what must survive
01UDP-Lite means Lightweight User Datagram Protocol. An error-tolerant audio or video application may prefer some damaged data to a missing datagram. It explicitly chooses a sensitive prefix and an unchecked tail.
The opted-in receiver application checks whether that tail is useful.
Source for this drawing: RFC 3828 · Read RFC section 1 ↗
New to this? Start hereA quick picture + helpful background
A message needs an address.
Think of a packet as a small addressed envelope. Devices pass it onward; transport protocols decide what delivery promises an application gets.
Helpful first, if these ideas are unfamiliar
These pictures are analogies to help you learn. The linked RFC explains the actual rules.
Terms in this drawing
Related RFCs and changes
“Updates” changes part of an earlier RFC. “Obsoletes” replaces it. This list shows selected related documents.
Full-packet checksum coverage is RECOMMENDED as the default (§3.3). Partial coverage is an explicit application choice, not a promise that all damaged media remains useful.
- Full-packet checksum coverage is RECOMMENDED as the default (§3.3). Partial coverage is an explicit application choice, not a promise that all damaged media remains useful.
- The checksum always covers the entire8-octet UDP-Lite header and an IP-derived pseudo-header. It is never an option to disable all checks.
- Applications should not assume anything about correctness beyond the coverage boundary; they should add appropriate validity checks if needed.
A codec encodes or decodes media. Some codecs tolerate particular errors; arbitrary tail damage need not be decodable. UDP-Lite adds no retransmission, delivery, ordering or error-correction guarantee.
Read the RFC section ↗