Transport Layer

Return to Glossary

The Transport Layer is the fourth layer in the open system interconnection (OSI) model, and is responsible for end-to-end communication over a network.

It provides logical communication between application processes running on different hosts within a layered architecture of protocols and other network components.

In a nutshell, the Transport Layer collects message segments from applications, and transmits them into the network (Layer 3). Here the segments are reassembled into fully-fledged messages, and passed on to Layer 7.

The Transport Layer is also responsible for the management of error correction, providing quality and reliability to the end user.

This layer enables the host to send and receive error corrected data, packets or messages over a network and is the network component that allows multiplexing.

Source: Transport Layer