maximum transmission unit

In computer networking, the maximum transmission unit (MTU) of a communications protocol of a layer is the size (in bytes or octets) of the largest protocol data unit that the layer can pass onwards. MTU parameters usually appear in association with a communications interface (NIC, serial port, etc.). Standards (Ethernet, for example) can fix the size of an MTU; or systems (such as point-to-point serial links) may decide MTU at connect time.