What is an Application Protocol

What is an Application Protocol?

An application protocol facilitates communication between an application and a server.

An application protocol defines how a client and server interact. It consists of these three points.

• Start up and shut down.
• Makes and satisfies service requests.
• Handles and reports errors.

Common application protocols include:

• HTTP (HyperText Transfer Protocol)
• FTP (File Transfer Protocol)
• SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol)
• NNTP (Network News Transfer Protocol)
• IRC (Internet Relay Chat)