Which network service would most benefit from UDP's characteristics?

• A. Real-time video conferencing.
• B. Email delivery.
• C. File transfer.
• D. Web page loading.

Answer: (A)

Emphasizing low latency with tolerance for some loss is the key idea. UDP is connectionless and has minimal overhead, with no built-in retransmission or ordering. In real-time video conferencing, delivering packets quickly is more important than guaranteeing every single packet arrives or arrives in perfect order. A small amount of lost or out-of-sequence data can be masked or corrected by the application (for example, with error concealment or forward error correction), while waiting for retransmissions would introduce noticeable delays and jitter.

Other services prioritize reliability and data integrity. Email delivery, file transfers, and web page loading benefit from ensuring every bit arrives correctly and in the right order, which TCP provides through guaranteed delivery, sequencing, and congestion control. That’s why these services typically do not rely on UDP for their core transport.

So real-time video conferencing matches UDP’s strengths—low latency and tolerance for occasional loss—making it the best fit.