---
title: "Jitter - Glossary | MDN"
chunk: 1/3
source: "https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Glossary/Jitter"
category: "reference"
tags: "web, html, css, javascript, documentation"
date_saved: "2026-05-05T05:35:58.567101+00:00"
instance: "kb-cron"
---

  * [Skip to main content](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Glossary/Jitter#content)
  * [Skip to search](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Glossary/Jitter#search)

[ MDN ](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/)
HTML
[HTML: Markup language](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/HTML) 

HTML reference
    
  * [Elements](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/HTML/Reference/Elements)
  * [Global attributes](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/HTML/Reference/Global_attributes)
  * [Attributes](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/HTML/Reference/Attributes)
  * [See all…](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/HTML/Reference "See all HTML references")

HTML guides
    
  * [Responsive images](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/HTML/Guides/Responsive_images)
  * [HTML cheatsheet](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/HTML/Guides/Cheatsheet)
  * [Date & time formats](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/HTML/Guides/Date_and_time_formats)
  * [See all…](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/HTML/Guides "See all HTML guides")

Markup languages
    
  * [SVG](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/SVG)
  * [MathML](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/MathML)
  * [XML](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/XML)

CSS
[CSS: Styling language](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS) 

CSS reference
    
  * [Properties](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/Reference/Properties)
  * [Selectors](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/Reference/Selectors)
  * [At-rules](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/Reference/At-rules)
  * [Values](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/Reference/Values)
  * [See all…](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/Reference "See all CSS references")

CSS guides
    
  * [Box model](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/Guides/Box_model/Introduction)
  * [Animations](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/Guides/Animations/Using)
  * [Flexbox](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/Guides/Flexible_box_layout/Basic_concepts)
  * [Colors](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/Guides/Colors/Applying_color)
  * [See all…](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/Guides "See all CSS guides")

Layout cookbook
    
  * [Column layouts](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/How_to/Layout_cookbook/Column_layouts)
  * [Centering an element](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/How_to/Layout_cookbook/Center_an_element)
  * [Card component](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/How_to/Layout_cookbook/Card)
  * [See all…](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/How_to/Layout_cookbook)

JavaScriptJS
[JavaScript: Scripting language](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript) 

JS reference
    
  * [Standard built-in objects](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Reference/Global_Objects)
  * [Expressions & operators](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Reference/Operators)
  * [Statements & declarations](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Reference/Statements)
  * [Functions](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Reference/Functions)
  * [See all…](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Reference "See all JavaScript references")

JS guides
    
  * [Control flow & error handing](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Guide/Control_flow_and_error_handling)
  * [Loops and iteration](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Guide/Loops_and_iteration)
  * [Working with objects](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Guide/Working_with_objects)
  * [Using classes](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Guide/Using_classes)
  * [See all…](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Guide "See all JavaScript guides")

Web APIs
[Web APIs: Programming interfaces](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API) 

Web API reference
    
  * [File system API](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/File_System_API)
  * [Fetch API](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/Fetch_API)
  * [Geolocation API](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/Geolocation_API)
  * [HTML DOM API](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/HTML_DOM_API)
  * [Push API](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/Push_API)
  * [Service worker API](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/Service_Worker_API)
  * [See all…](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API "See all Web API guides")

Web API guides
    
  * [Using the Web animation API](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/Web_Animations_API/Using_the_Web_Animations_API)
  * [Using the Fetch API](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/Fetch_API/Using_Fetch)
  * [Working with the History API](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/History_API/Working_with_the_History_API)
  * [Using the Web speech API](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/Web_Speech_API/Using_the_Web_Speech_API)
  * [Using web workers](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/Web_Workers_API/Using_web_workers)

All
[All web technology](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web) 

Technologies
    
  * [Accessibility](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/Accessibility)
  * [HTTP](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/HTTP)
  * [URI](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/URI)
  * [Web extensions](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Mozilla/Add-ons/WebExtensions)
  * [WebAssembly](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/WebAssembly)
  * [WebDriver](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/WebDriver)
  * [See all…](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web "See all web technology references")

Topics
    
  * [Media](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/Media)
  * [Performance](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/Performance)
  * [Privacy](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/Privacy)
  * [Security](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/Security)
  * [Progressive web apps](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/Progressive_web_apps)

Learn
[Learn web development](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development) 

Frontend developer course
    
  * [Getting started modules](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Getting_started)
  * [Core modules](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Core)
  * [MDN Curriculum](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/curriculum/)
  * [Check out the video course from Scrimba, our partner](https://scrimba.com/frontend-path-c0j?via=mdn-learn-navbar)

Learn HTML
    
  * [Structuring content with HTML module](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Core/Structuring_content)

Learn CSS
    
  * [CSS styling basics module](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Core/Styling_basics)
  * [CSS layout module](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Core/CSS_layout)

Learn JavaScript
    
  * [Dynamic scripting with JavaScript module](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Core/Scripting)

Tools
Discover our tools 
  * [Playground](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/play)
  * [HTTP Observatory](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/observatory)

  * [Border-image generator](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/Guides/Backgrounds_and_borders/Border-image_generator)
  * [Border-radius generator](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/Guides/Backgrounds_and_borders/Border-radius_generator)
  * [Box-shadow generator](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/Guides/Backgrounds_and_borders/Box-shadow_generator)
  * [Color format converter](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/Guides/Colors/Color_format_converter)
  * [Color mixer](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/Guides/Colors/Color_mixer)
  * [Shape generator](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/Guides/Shapes/Shape_generator)

About
Get to know MDN better 
  * [About MDN](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/about)
  * [Advertise with us](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/advertising)

  * [Community](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/community)
  * [MDN on GitHub](https://github.com/mdn)

[Blog](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/blog/)
  1. [Glossary](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Glossary)
  2. [Jitter](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Glossary/Jitter)

# Jitter
**Jitter** is the term used in computer networking to refer to [packet delay variation](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Packet_delay_variation) — the variance in the rate at which packets arrive at a destination (the average of the squared difference from the mean packet arrival rate).
"High jitter" indicates that packets are arriving at significantly varying rates, possibly due to network congestion, packet loss, and routing of packets in a stream through different paths. High jitter can significantly degrade the performance of real-time web applications, including voice/video streaming and online gaming.
## In this article
  * [Jitter buffer](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Glossary/Jitter#jitter_buffer)
  * [See also](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Glossary/Jitter#see_also)

##  [Jitter buffer](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Glossary/Jitter#jitter_buffer)
Network protocols and applications, such as WebRTC, use a "jitter buffer" to mitigate the effects of packet delay variation. Jitter buffers temporarily store incoming packets and then release them at a steady, synchronized rate. They may also use forward error correction to fix corrupted packets, re-request missing packets, [insert audio samples to conceal missing packets](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Packet_loss_concealment), slow down or speed up sample playout, and so on. This process smooths out the arrival times of packets and ensures a more consistent playout of real-time audio and video.
##  [See also](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Glossary/Jitter#see_also)
  * [How WebRTC's NetEQ Jitter Buffer Provides Smooth Audio](https://webrtchacks.com/how-webrtcs-neteq-jitter-buffer-provides-smooth-audio/#post-4560-_mv3ivinthkf5) (webrtchacks.com, June 2025)