1. One of the protocols for data transfer that is part of the TCP/IP suite of protocols. UDP is a "stateless" protocol in that UDP makes no provision for acknowledgement of packets received. See also: Packet Switching, TCP/IP. From Matisse

2. UDP is a transport protocol that provides "datagram" services on top of IP. Contrast: There are two transport protocols: UDP and TCP. Both of these are responsible for hooking up the programs that are communicating with each other, whereas the underlying IP is simply responsible for getting the packets from machine to machine across the Internet. UDP is essentially just a light-weight version of TCP. Whereas TCP will automatically retransmit lost packets, UDP doesn't care. This is actually a benefit for audio/visual, but a severe disadvantage when transferring files. UDP Format: 0 1 2 3 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+ | Source Port | Destination Port | +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+ | Length | Checksum | +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+ There is nothing to exciting about UDP. The source port identifies the application on the sending machine. The destination port identifies who is to receive the data. The length indicates how much data is in the packet; the checksum verifies that it has not been accidentally altered in transit (though it cannot protect against deliberate alteration). From Hacking-Lexicon