Session Description Protocol
Session Description Protocol (SDP) is a format for describing multimedia communication sessions for the purposes of session announcement, session invitation, and other forms of multimedia session initiation. It is used to negotiate media types, codecs, network addresses, and other parameters between endpoints in real-time communication applications like VoIP, video conferencing, and WebRTC. SDP is typically transmitted as part of other protocols such as SIP, RTSP, or WebRTC.
Developers should learn SDP when working on real-time communication systems, such as building VoIP applications, video conferencing tools, or WebRTC-based services, as it is essential for session negotiation and setup. It is particularly important in scenarios requiring interoperability between different devices and platforms, as SDP provides a standardized way to describe session parameters. Knowledge of SDP is also crucial for debugging and optimizing multimedia streams in networked applications.