Latency vs Jitter
Latency is delay; jitter is variation in delay, critical for voice/video quality.
Updated: 2026-03-05
Definition
Latency is the time it takes a packet to travel from source to destination.
Jitter is the variation in latency over time; high jitter causes choppy voice/video.
Key points
- Latency = delay
- Jitter = variability
- QoS helps real-time traffic under congestion
Common mistakes
- Optimizing bandwidth while ignoring latency/jitter constraints.
- No QoS for voice/video in congested networks.
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