What protocol is commonly associated with voice over Internet protocol for its speed?

The chosen answer, which is UDP, is correct because of its characteristics that make it well-suited for real-time applications like Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP). UDP stands for User Datagram Protocol, and it operates without establishing a connection between the sender and receiver, which significantly reduces latency. This is crucial for voice communication, where delays can lead to poor audio quality and a choppy conversation.

Due to UDP's lack of error correction and flow control mechanisms, it can deliver packets more quickly than protocols that do take these steps, like TCP. In VoIP applications, minor errors or lost packets are often acceptable, as they do not have a significant impact on overall call quality, but latency would. This prioritization of speed over reliability makes UDP the preferred protocol for transmitting voice data over the internet.

Other options, such as TCP, are more reliable and ensure that all packets are received and in order, which introduces delays unacceptable for live voice communication. HTTP is used primarily for transferring web content and not for real-time audio, while SIP (Session Initiation Protocol) is a signaling protocol used for setting up and controlling voice communication sessions but does not influence the speed of the actual data transmission.