What term describes the variation in packet arrival times that can cause video and audio to stutter?

What term describes the variation in packet arrival times that can cause video and audio to stutter?

• A. Jitter
• B. Packet Delay Variation
• C. Latency
• D. Buffering

Answer: (B)

The variation in when packets arrive is called jitter. When packets don’t show up at regular intervals, the playback buffer has to compensate to keep audio and video smooth. If the arrival times vary a lot, the buffer can’t keep up, and you’ll hear stutters or see pauses during playback. Jitter is caused by things like traffic bursts, queueing delays in routers, or changes in the route paths packets take. To handle jitter, systems either enlarge the receive buffer or implement timing adjustments, but that often adds some extra delay. Packet Delay Variation is a term some contexts use to describe the same idea numerically, measuring how much delay differs from packet to packet. So jitter is the commonly used term for the phenomenon, while PDV is a related, measurement-focused name for it.

The variation in when packets arrive is called jitter. When packets don’t show up at regular intervals, the playback buffer has to compensate to keep audio and video smooth. If the arrival times vary a lot, the buffer can’t keep up, and you’ll hear stutters or see pauses during playback. Jitter is caused by things like traffic bursts, queueing delays in routers, or changes in the route paths packets take. To handle jitter, systems either enlarge the receive buffer or implement timing adjustments, but that often adds some extra delay.

Packet Delay Variation is a term some contexts use to describe the same idea numerically, measuring how much delay differs from packet to packet. So jitter is the commonly used term for the phenomenon, while PDV is a related, measurement-focused name for it.