Latency is a term that describes the time delay between a cause and its effect. It occurs in the communication process between two or more parties. It can be a physical or a mental phenomenon. Latency is a significant problem for network operators, making connections between different locations more challenging. This article aims to help clarify what is latency and what they mean.

Propagation delay

Propagation delay is a concept in computer science and engineering. It takes time for a signal to travel from one place to another. The distance between the two places and the wave propagation speed influence the delay. This is one of the primary reasons why high-speed computers are so challenging to build. Propagation delay affects technical terminology, such as packet size and time to send and receive a signal.

Propagation delay is the time it takes for a signal to move from one location to another in networking and the Internet. The terms are used interchangeably with latency. It is time it takes for a signal to go from one end of a network to the other. It also refers to hold time, the minimum period needed for a logic level on an input to stay on that input.

Queuing

Queuing and latency are two metrics that often need to be understood in modern web application performance monitoring. Developers typically think of Queuing as the average time a worker takes to process a request. However, Queuing and latency are very different metrics. 

While both metrics are important, they’re different. The difference is the amount of latency allowed to queue and drop. Latency is one of the most critical network statistics, and reducing it can significantly affect your bandwidth consumption.

Buffering

Buffering is an essential component in audio processing. By using a buffer, you can reduce the latency of your recording. Buffer sizes are generally set to match the performance capabilities of the hardware. For example, you should use a larger buffer if your hardware can handle a higher sampling rate. Larger buffer sizes will also run your computer cooler.

Buffer size is a significant factor in latency reduction. A smaller buffer size puts more strain on the CPU but produces lower latencies, making them more suitable for monitoring sequencers. Likewise, a large buffer size is more advantageous when mixing multiple tracks. However, keep in mind that low latency can create pops and glitches.

Router

The amount of time it takes for a message to move from one end of a network to another is called latency. It is measured in microseconds or milliseconds. When you try to play a game, view a web page, or watch a YouTube video, a slow connection can cause latency issues. Determine your IP address as the first step in troubleshooting your latency. You can do this by using your computer’s command prompt.

A wide variety of factors causes router latency. A poor signal will reduce bandwidth, and packet drops and retransmissions will increase the latency. Furthermore, a high-latency connection might cause ping spikes. Fortunately, there are various techniques to lower the latency of your router.

Website content

While the amount of latency associated with a single asset on a website may seem trivial, it can significantly impact the user experience. Websites generally involve multiple requests, including HTML pages, CSS, scripts, and media files. Moreover, the amount of latency increases with the size of the request. A low-latency connection will return the requested resources almost immediately, whereas a high-latency connection will take longer. Latency is measured by the time it takes for data to travel from one server to another.

Web pages often contain a combination of HTML, CSS, and Javascript files, each of which must be transferred from the server to the browser. This increases the number of HTTP requests and, consequently, increases latency. However, users can reduce the latency by optimizing their websites’ file sizes to reduce the number of requests. For example, using a minification tool such as Google’s Closure Compiler Service will help reduce the size of JS and CSS files, resulting in a faster loading speed.

Wi-Fi

Wi-Fi latency refers to the time it takes for a packet to travel from one location to another. It can vary depending on the amount of traffic and deployment density. For example, Wi-Fi networks may be hampered by interference from neighboring Wi-Fi networks, which may cause them to overlap. However, this problem can be overcome by using OFDMA, which reduces network latency.

Wi-Fi latency can also be affected by distance from the router. The longer your router is from your device, the higher your latency is. Latency can also be a result of using bandwidth-heavy websites. If your latency exceeds a few milliseconds, consider closing programs, reducing bandwidth usage, and restarting your router. In addition, excessive use of the router can cause issues.

Distance

Latency is the time data travels from a client device to the server. The distance between a client device and a server can affect the latency of data transfers. For example, if a user from California wants to visit a website hosted in Ohio, they will have to wait at least five milliseconds to access it. Meanwhile, a user from Los Angeles will have to wait 40-50 milliseconds to access the same website.

While latency is essential in a real-time application, it is also crucial to consider the variations in packet delivery. This variation can affect the real-time application, as the delayed arrival of individual packets can make a huge difference. Fortunately, some methods can accurately model the variation in packet delays.