Editing RFB (protocol) (section)

==Limitations==
In terms of transferring clipboard data, "there is currently no way to transfer text outside the Latin-1 character set".<ref name="RFB-charset">{{cite book
 | title   = The RFB Protocol - Version 3.8
 | last    = Richardson
 | first   = Tristan
 | year    = 2010
 | chapter = Sections 6.4.6, 6.5.4
 }}</ref> A common pseudo-encoding extension solves the problem by using [[UTF-8]] in an extended format.<ref name="rfbproto"/>{{rp|at=§ 7.7.27}}

The VNC protocol is pixel based. Although this leads to great flexibility (i.e. any type of desktop can be displayed), it is often less efficient than solutions that have a better understanding of the underlying graphic layout like [[X11]] or desktop such as [[Remote Desktop Protocol|RDP]]. Those protocols send graphic primitives or high level commands in a simpler form (e.g. open window), whereas RFB just sends the raw pixel data, albeit compressed.

The VNC protocol expresses mouse button state in a single byte, as binary up/down. This limits the number of mouse buttons to eight (effectively 7 given convention of button 0 meaning "disabled"). Many modern mice enumerate 9 or more buttons, leading to forward/back buttons having no effect over RFB. A "GII" extension solves this problem.<ref name="rfbproto"/>{{rp|at=§ 7.7.11}}

The original protocol specification does not define any way to transfer sound data at all, with the sole exception that the server may signal a [[Bell character|bell]] (audible beep, notification sound) should be played by the client.<ref name="rfbproto"/>{{rp|at=§ 7.6.3}} There is, however, a "QEMU Audio" extension defined in the RFB protocol's community version.<ref name="rfbproto"/>