Editing Traffic shaping (section)

==Uses==
Traffic shaping is sometimes applied by traffic sources to ensure the traffic they send complies with a contract which may be enforced in the network by [[traffic policing (communications)|traffic policing]].

Shaping is widely used for [[teletraffic engineering]], and appears in [[#ISPs and traffic management|domestic ISPs' networks]] as one of several Internet Traffic Management Practices (ITMPs).<ref>[http://www.crtc.gc.ca/eng/archive/2009/2009-657.htm Review of the Internet traffic management practices of Internet service providers (Telecom. Reg. Policy CRTC 2009-657)] [[Canada|Canadian]] telecomms regulator CRTC ruling relating to traffic shaping usage by domestic ISPs.</ref>  Some [[ISP]]s may use traffic shaping to limit resources consumed by peer-to-peer file-sharing networks, such as [[BitTorrent]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://en.flossmanuals.net/bypassing-censorship/ch007_chapter-2-censorship/|title=HOW TO BYPASS INTERNET CENSORSHIP|publisher=FLOSS Manuals|access-date=7 March 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140714025350/http://en.flossmanuals.net/bypassing-censorship/ch007_chapter-2-censorship/|archive-date=14 July 2014|url-status=dead|df=dmy-all}}</ref>

[[Data center]]s use traffic shaping to maintain service level agreements for the variety of applications and the many tenants hosted as they all share the same physical network.<ref name=architecture>M. Noormohammadpour, C. S. Raghavendra, [https://www.researchgate.net/publication/321744877_Datacenter_Traffic_Control_Understanding_Techniques_and_Trade-offs "Datacenter Traffic Control: Understanding Techniques and Trade-offs,"] IEEE Communications Surveys & Tutorials, vol. PP, no. 99, pp. 1-1.</ref>

[[Audio Video Bridging]] includes an integral traffic-shaping provision defined in IEEE 802.1Qav.

Nodes in an IP network which buffer packets before sending on a link which is at capacity produce an unintended traffic shaping effect.  This can appear across, for example, a low bandwidth link, a particularly expensive WAN link or satellite hop.