/ˈpækɪt lɔs/
noun — "when your data decides to take a vacation mid-journey."
Packet Loss is a networking term in information technology that describes the failure of one or more data packets to reach their destination over a network. It can occur due to network congestion, hardware failure, faulty cables, software bugs, or interference in wireless networks. Packet loss affects network performance, causing slow connections, interruptions in voice/video communication, and corrupted data transmission.
Technically, Packet Loss involves:
- Transmission errors — packets dropped due to collisions, buffer overflow, or faulty equipment.
- Network congestion — when routers or switches cannot process all packets, leading to discards.
- Measurement — calculated as a percentage of packets lost versus packets sent over a given time or route.
Examples of Packet Loss include:
- Dropped VoIP calls or distorted audio during online meetings.
- Video buffering or stuttering in streaming services.
- Reduced throughput or timeouts in large file transfers.
Conceptually, Packet Loss represents gaps in reliable data delivery across networks. Detecting and minimizing packet loss is crucial for maintaining performance, quality of service, and reliability in IT systems and communications.
In practice, mitigating Packet Loss involves network monitoring, using quality-of-service (QoS) configurations, updating hardware, reducing congestion, and troubleshooting faulty network paths.
See Latency, Bandwidth, Network Monitoring, MTR, Ping.