What does VoIP stand for?

What does VoIP stand for? VoIP means Voice over Internet Protocol. It describes technologies that carry voice conversations as digital data over IP networks instead of dedicating a traditional circuit-switched telephone path.

In a VoIP call, microphones convert speech into digital samples. Codecs compress and package that audio into packets, which travel across networks using protocols such as the Real-time Transport Protocol, commonly abbreviated RTP. Signaling systems such as SIP can help establish, modify, and end calls, while the audio itself follows the negotiated media path.

VoIP can power internet calling apps, office phone systems, and carrier networks, and it may work over the public Internet or a managed private IP network. Unlike a circuit-switched call, packets can take different routes and may be delayed, lost, or delivered unevenly; buffering and error-handling techniques help manage those problems. VoIP is not the same as VPN: the phrase describes voice transport over IP, while a VPN creates a protected network tunnel for many kinds of traffic.