Throughput

How it is used

Used in performance tests and capacity reports. Engineers measure, test and improve throughput, often with tools like iperf. A user on a 1 Gbps link may see a throughput of only 300 Mbps because of a slow server or weak Wi-Fi.

Example sentences

1. The link is 1 Gbps, but throughput drops to 200 Mbps during backups.

2. We ran a throughput test between the two sites before accepting the new circuit.

Common collocations

• measure throughput
• throughput test
• maximum throughput
• low throughput
• throughput drops

Related terms

• bandwidthThe maximum amount of data a connection can carry in a given time, usually measured in megabits or gigabits per second (Mbps, Gbps).
• latencyThe time it takes for data to travel from one point of a network to another, usually measured in milliseconds; lower latency means a faster response.
• packet lossA situation in which some packets sent across a network never reach their destination, usually shown as a percentage; it causes slow downloads, choppy calls and frozen video.
• congestionA situation in which more traffic is trying to cross a link or device than it can handle, so packets are queued or dropped and everything slows down.
• bottleneckThe point in a network or system where capacity is lowest, so it limits the speed of everything that passes through it, like the narrow neck of a bottle.

This word in other fields

The same English word can have a different meaning in another field:

• throughput · Software Engineering
• throughput · Cloud Computing & DevOps
• throughput · Robotics & Automation
• throughput · Industrial Engineering & Manufacturing
• throughput · Chemical Engineering
• throughput · Oil, Gas & Mining

More terms: Bandwidth, Latency and Reliability

• jitter
• QoS
• round-trip time
• redundancy
• failover