Traffic shaping, also known as packet shaping, is a network management technique that delays certain types of packets to optimize overall network performance. For instance, an ISP may delay P2P packets, such as those transmitted by BitTorrent networks. If the ISP feels that bandwidth is disproportionally used by a small number of users or services, it may throttle that type of traffic. Applications such as BitTorrent clients may attempt to encrypt their data packets to make it difficult or impossible for an ISP to identify the traffic and prevent traffic shaping.

ISP, Network terms, Network traffic, QoS

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