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Collaboration, Voice & AV · Intermediate

RTP Control Protocol (RTCP)

The companion protocol to RTP that reports packet loss, jitter and round-trip time for a media session.

Definition

RTCP sends periodic sender reports and receiver reports containing statistics such as packets sent, fraction lost, cumulative loss, interarrival jitter and timing for round-trip estimation, plus source description items. Traditionally RTP uses an even UDP port and RTCP the next odd port, though RTCP multiplexing (rtcp-mux) can share one port. RTCP data feeds quality monitoring tools and adaptive codecs.

Example

A phone's call statistics screen shows RTCP-derived average jitter of 4 ms and 0.2 percent loss.

Exam tip

RTCP does not carry media; it carries quality feedback about RTP streams, using RTP port plus one.

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