
While SIP communicates with IP endpoints to exchange signaling details, SDP conveys session-related information to help participants join or receive details of the session. The session description protocol (SDP) is one such protocol. Several other protocols work along with it to ensure voice data reaches its destination. SIP doesn’t work alone during VoIP calls. We’ll leave the other uses of SIP aside for now and focus on how the protocol works during a voice call. That’s why it can be used for video conferencing and instant messaging as well as making phone calls over the internet. SIP doesn’t encode, decode, or transport any information during these sessions. Gary Audin, tech writer, expert in VoIP and IP telephony

SIP tells you the presence of the other party, makes a connection and lets you do whatever you want over the connection, but it has no idea of what’s going over the connection. The OSI model with locations of protocols involved in VoIP technology ( Source ) Multiple protocols work simultaneously by building on top of each other in layers, collectively known as a “protocol stack.” Different models explain how protocols layer on top of each other, but the Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) model, developed by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), is the most commonly used. Instead, it’s an umbrella term for all the technologies involved in transporting voice and video information using IPs.Ĭommunication between networked devices on the internet doesn’t just involve a single protocol. It is important to remember that VoIP isn’t a protocol itself. Systems that enable the transmission of voice and video calls through internet networks are known as VoIP or business phone systems. This is known as Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) technology. To keep things simple, we’re going to focus on protocols that are involved in making and receiving voice and video calls over the internet.

A protocol is a set of rules that defines how two or more computing devices (laptops, smartphones, routers, network switches, etc.) communicate with each other.
