What Is XMPP?

Date First Published: 19th March 2022

Topic: Computer Networking

Subtopic: Internet Protocols

Article Type: Computer Terms & Definitions

Difficulty Level: 7/10

Learn more about what XMPP is in this article.

Short for Extensible Messaging and Presence Protocol, XMPP is a communication protocol used for instant messaging, near-real-time chat, and contact lists. XMPP is an application-layer protocol that enables the real-time transmission of data between two or more devices. It transmits data between two or more devices over a network by streaming XML elements in order for messages to be exchanged. Instant messaging applications, such as Facebook Messenger use this protocol.

This protocol is designed to be extensible, meaning that it has the capability to be extended or customised from its original state in order to make it appropriate for the tasks that need to be performed with it. Because XMPP is extensible, it provides functionality beyond instant messaging, such as VoIP, file transfer, chatrooms and more. The XMPP Standards Foundation, originally known as the Jabber Software Foundation is active in the development of extensions for XMPP and it is possible for anyone to create their own extensions.

Note:

XMPP has some limitations in terms of functionality. It does not support QoS, a technology that enables different types of internet traffic to be managed and prioritised.

History

XMPP has been around since 1999 and was originally named Jabber. In 2002, the IETF created an XMPP working group to define the core protocols as an IETF instant messaging and presence platform. The early Jabber protocol, developed in 1999 and 2000, served as the foundation for XMPP, which was established by the IETF's XMPP Working Group and published in RFC 3920 and RFC 3921 in October 2004 (the primary changes during formalisation were the addition of TLS for channel encryption and SASL for authentication). RFC 3922 and RFC 3923 were also produced by the XMPP Working Group. RFC 3920 and RFC 3921 were deprecated in 2011 in place of RFC 6120 and RFC 6121, with RFC 6122 defining the XMPP address format. RFC 6122 was superseded by RFC 7622 in 2015.

In 2004, the protocols were approved as an instant messaging standard. Over time, new features have been added to XMPP. In accordance with the XMPP standards, over 10 million people all around the world had used this protocol by 2003.

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