What is the full form of XMPP?

What is XMPP?

XMPP stands for Extensible Messaging and Presence Protocol. This protocol can be used for voice calls, video calls, multi-party chat, instant messaging, and many more. In the beginning, the protocol was developed for Jabber open-source services. At that time the protocol was used for instant messaging.

XMPP Each Letter Explained

Here we will see the meaning of each character.

• X means extensible. XMPP is an open-source project and professionals can make changes to it as per their requirements.

• M means that the push mechanism in the XMPP protocol is much better in comparison to other protocols. XMPP has been developed so that messages can be sent from one end to another in real-time.

• P is the state of users whether they are online, offline, or busy.

• P denotes that XMPP is a protocol which can be used by systems to communicate with each other.

Features of XMPP Protocol

XMPP comes with many features which are as follows −

Asynchronous Push Messaging

XMPP provides the feature of asynchronous push messaging. Message will be delivered to recipients whether they are online or not. XML stanzas are the format in which messages are shared. These stanzas consist of the Jabber ID of the sender and receiver, metadata, and message body.

Client Server Architecture

XMPP uses a client-server architecture to deliver the message. XMPP distributes only a small portion of the XML which is first sent to the server and then to the client. Separate names are given to the XMPP clients which is used to send a message to a particular client.

Persistent TCP Connections

XMPP can transmit data with the help of TCP connections only. After a connection is made, there is no need to re-establish it when a new message is sent.

Hosting is Decentralized

There is no central authority to control a server. Due to this flexibility, a server can be owned, run, managed, and maintained by anybody. Users can have the server on the cloud or on-premise.

Gateways

XMPP has another great feature and that is the offering of different gateways for different protocols used for messaging and chatting. XMPP has compatibility with different protocols.

Types of XMPP Technologies

XMPP technologies are of many types and they are discussed below in detail.

Core

XMPP is a technology that is used at its core to stream XML over a network. These core technologies include the following −

• XML streaming layer

• Channel encryption through TLS (Transport Layer Security)

• Simple Authentication and Security Layer for strong authentication

• UTF-8 usage for Unicode support

Jingle

Jingle is a technology which can be used by Jabber clients to manage and set up multimedia sessions. Different types of applications are supported by these sessions. The application types include voice chat, video chat, file transfer, etc. Different transport methods are also used by Jingle like TCP, RTP, UDP, etc.

Multi User Chat

MUC (Multi-User Chat) is an extension of XMPP which can be used to exchange messages between different parties. Users can enjoy chat room features which include invitations room topics, etc. Users will also have the option of blocking other users if needed. Besides text messages, XML payloads can also be shared.

PubSub

PubSub is a protocol extension which can be used for publish-subscribe functionality. This protocol has the ability to enable XMPP for creating different types of nodes at pubsub service and information is published at each node. All users who have subscribed to the nodes receive a notification about new publishing.

BOSH

BOSH can be expanded to Bidirectional-streams Over Synchronous HTTP. It is a technology in which there is two-way communication over the HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol). BOSH is a great option for applications in which push and pull notifications are required. BOSH is bandwidth efficient and is being used between Jabber clients and servers.

How Does XMPP Work?

XMPP is based on client-server architecture so the message is first sent to the server and then is transferred to the clients. XMPP creates a unique ID called Jabber ID which provides the details of the client to which a message has to be sent. The XMPP server uses this ID for routing the message over a TCP connection. An XML server stream is shared with the server and the client is identified with the help of Jabber ID. The server will start another XML stream after identifying the client. The server will send the stream to the client and it will make the XML stream two-directional.

Difference Between WebSocket and XMPP

There are many differences between both the protocols and some of them are available in the table below −

Aspect	XMPP	WebSocket
Security	A secure protocol	Needs improvement in providing security
Operation	Decentralized protocol	Centralized protocol
Compatibility with other protocols	XMPP is not compatible with APIs	WebSocket is Compatible with different APIs
Binary data	Data transfer is comparatively slow as XMPP uses a thin bath for transferring binary data	Data transfer is quick as WebSocket uses binary data
Data transfer speed	Data transfer speed is comparatively slow	Data transfer speed is comparatively fast

Advantages of XMPP

Open

It is a free, open, and public protocol which can be understood easily and can be implemented on servers, clients, code libraries, and server components.

Standard

The Internet Engineering Task Force has approved XML streaming protocols as messaging and presence technology The specifications of XMPP were also published in the form of RFC 3920 and RFC 3921 in 2004. RFC was revised in 2011 and led to the development of RFC 6120, RFC 6121, and RFC 7622.

Proven

Jeremie Miller developed the first XMPP technology in 1998 and now a lot of people are developers are using this technology because of its stability. A large number of XMPP servers are running over the internet and are being used by millions of users for instant messaging.

Decentralized

Users are allowed to have their own XMPP server which will help them in controlling their communications.

Security

XMPP servers can be easily secured as users have the ability to isolate them. XMPP servers can be isolated from public networks with the help of SASL and TLS.

Extensible

You can use XML to develop custom functionalities with the help of core protocols. You can make functionalities to maintain interoperability. You can find the extensions in the XEP series.

Flexible

XMPP applications can be used for different purposes like content syndication, file sharing, collaboration monitoring, and many more.

Diverse

XMPP is being used by a large number of organizations for the development and deployment of their projects.

Conclusion

XMPP is a secure protocol which is used to transfer messages from sender to receiver. It is considered as one of the secure messaging protocols and is based on client-server architecture. The protocol comes with many features because of which it is being used by many professionals.

FAQs

Q 1 − What is the full form of XMPP?

Ans − XMPP stands for Extensible Messaging and Presence Protocol.

Q 2 − Is XMPP secure?

Ans − Yes! XMPP is a secure protocol.

Q 3 − Does XMPP use TCP connections to send and receive messages?

Ans − Yes! XMPP uses TCP connections for communication.

Q 4 − Why is the speed of WebSocket better than XMPP?

Ans − WebSocket uses binary data which increases the data transfer.

Q 5 − Is WebSocket more secure than XMPP?

Ans − No! XMPP is more secure.