Definition: In the context of the Web, a packet is a small piece of data sent over a computer network. All information on the Web is transmitted in tiny bits, or packets, from network to network, computer to computer. Each packet contains specific information: source data, destination address, etc.
Billions of packets are exchanged all over the Web from different locations to different computers and networks every second of the day (this process is called packet switching). When the packets arrive at their intended destination, they are reconstituted back into their original form/content/message.
Packets, and packet switching protocols, were designed specifically to handle large amounts of data traffic, since a large message can be broken down into smaller pieces (packets), transmitted through a series of different networks, then restored at its destination quickly and efficiently.
