Which statement best describes the differences between TCP and UDP and their typical use cases?

Which statement best describes the differences between TCP and UDP and their typical use cases?

• A. TCP is connectionless and fast; UDP is reliable and connection-oriented.
• B. TCP provides reliable, connection-oriented delivery with flow control and retransmission; UDP is connectionless, faster, no delivery guarantees. Use TCP for web and email; UDP for streaming, online gaming, VoIP.
• C. UDP guarantees delivery; TCP does not.
• D. UDP supports flow control; TCP does not.

Answer: (B)

The trade-off between reliability and speed at the transport layer defines TCP and UDP. TCP provides reliable, connection-oriented delivery with flow control and retransmission, meaning data arrives in order, without errors, and missing packets are resent. UDP is connectionless and faster, with no delivery guarantees or ordering, so it has lower overhead and latency. This matches real-world use: TCP is preferred for web access and email where you need data to arrive correctly and completely; UDP suits streaming, online gaming, and VoIP where speed and low latency matter and some data loss is tolerable. The other statements don’t fit because they misstate which protocol is connection-oriented vs connectionless, or they claim delivery guarantees or flow control that UDP does not provide.

The trade-off between reliability and speed at the transport layer defines TCP and UDP. TCP provides reliable, connection-oriented delivery with flow control and retransmission, meaning data arrives in order, without errors, and missing packets are resent. UDP is connectionless and faster, with no delivery guarantees or ordering, so it has lower overhead and latency. This matches real-world use: TCP is preferred for web access and email where you need data to arrive correctly and completely; UDP suits streaming, online gaming, and VoIP where speed and low latency matter and some data loss is tolerable. The other statements don’t fit because they misstate which protocol is connection-oriented vs connectionless, or they claim delivery guarantees or flow control that UDP does not provide.