Datagram Transport Layer Security
(
DTLS
) is a protocol used to secure datagram-based communications. It's based on the stream-focused Transport Layer Security (
TLS
), providing a similar level of security. As a datagram protocol, DTLS doesn't guarantee the order of message delivery, or even that messages will be delivered at all. However, DTLS gains the benefits of datagram protocols, too; in particular, the lower overhead and reduced latency.
These features are especially useful for one of the most common areas in which DTLS comes into play:
WebRTC
. All of the WebRTC related protocols are required to encrypt their communications using DTLS; this includes
SCTP
,
SRTP
, and
STUN
.
