Overview
Jitter occurs when packets in the same stream take different amounts of time to travel across the network, leading to irregular arrival times. This is particularly disruptive for real-time applications like VoIP or video streaming.
Impact
High jitter causes audio to sound 'choppy' or video to stutter. To mitigate this, devices use a Jitter Buffer to collect packets and release them at a steady rate, though this adds to the overall latency.