Editing Network packet (section)

{{short description|Formatted unit of data carried by a packet-switched network}}
{{Refimprove|date=August 2014}}

In [[telecommunications]] and [[computer network]]ing, a '''network packet''' is a formatted unit of [[Data (computing)|data]] carried by a [[packet-switched network]]. A packet consists of control information and user data;<ref>{{cite book|last=Stallings|first=William|title=Business Data Communication|date=2001|publisher=Prentice-Hall, Inc.|location=Upper Saddle River, New Jersey, USA|isbn=0-13-088263-1|page=[https://archive.org/details/businessdatacomm00stal/page/632 632]|edition=4|chapter=Glossary|quote=Packet: A group of bits that includes data plus control information. Generally refers to a network layer (OSI layer 3) protocol data unit.|chapter-url-access=registration|chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/businessdatacomm00stal/page/632}}</ref> the latter is also known as the ''[[Payload (computing)|payload]]''. Control information provides data for delivering the payload (e.g., source and destination [[network address]]es, [[error detection]] codes, or sequencing information). Typically, control information is found in packet [[Header (computing)|headers]] and [[Trailer (computing)|trailers]].

In [[packet switching]], the [[Bandwidth (computing)|bandwidth]] of the [[transmission medium]] is shared between multiple communication sessions, in contrast to [[circuit switching]], in which circuits are preallocated for the duration of one session and data is typically transmitted as a continuous [[bit stream]].