Which protocol is ideal for streaming services due to minimal overhead?

The correct choice, which is UDP, is recognized for its minimal overhead, making it particularly suitable for streaming services. UDP, or User Datagram Protocol, operates without establishing a connection and does not require a handshake or acknowledgment of transmitted packets, which reduces latency and increases efficiency, especially for real-time data transfer like video and audio streams. This lack of overhead allows for faster data delivery, which is essential in applications where timely playback is critical, such as live broadcasts or interactive gaming.

In contrast, other protocols, while useful for different applications, add additional layers of processing. For instance, TCP (Transmission Control Protocol) ensures reliable, ordered delivery of data but involves more overhead due to its connection setup and error-checking mechanisms, which can introduce delays. HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol) is built on top of TCP, inheriting its overhead characteristics, and while it supports the transfer of multimedia content, it is not optimized for real-time streaming. SIP (Session Initiation Protocol) is designed for initiating, maintaining, and terminating real-time sessions, but it is less focused on the actual streaming of data itself. Therefore, UDP's lightweight nature makes it the ideal choice for streaming services, where speed is often prioritized over perfect data integrity.