A packet is one unit of binary data capable of being routed through a computer network.
This is a small amount of computer data sent over a network. Any time you receive data from the Internet, it comes to your computer in the form of many little packets.
Each packet contains:
- A label which uniquely identifies it
- The IP address of its origin and destination
- A sequence number (for sorting)
- A checksum (for error checking
The process of sending and receiving packets is known as "packet-switching." Packets from many different locations can be sent on the same lines and be sorted and directed to different routes by various computers along the way, the packets are then sorted by their sequence number once they reach their destination. It works a lot like the post office, except billions of packets are transferred each day, and most packets take less than a few seconds to reach their destination. Even FedEx same-day delivery can't compete with that.
Packet Definition. 2013. Packet Definition. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.techterms.com/definition/packet. [Accessed 30 April 2013].