5120 byte nax size for TCP messages

Hi,

I have noticed that some network programmers put a 5120 byte cap on their outbound packets. Why is this?

i don't understand your question really.

tcp will use mtu / mss to determine the actual packet size transmitted.

for ethernet a typical mtu is 1500 and on gige networks 9KB are used. the ethernet limit is based on early shared medium requirements that one device not dominate the medium.

Lots of people say "packet" when they mean something else, usually one call to SendData (which is not a packet at all and can be a whole file).