A printing protocol is a protocol for communication between

client Client(s) or The Client may refer to: * Client (business) * Client (computing), hardware or software that accesses a remote service on another computer * Customer or client, a recipient of goods or services in return for monetary or other valuable ...

devices (computers, mobile phones, tablets, etc.) and

printers Printer may refer to: Technology * Printer (publishing), a person * Printer (computing), a hardware device * Optical printer for motion picture films People * Nariman Printer (fl. c. 1940), Indian journalist and activist * James Printer (1 ...

(or

print servers Print or printing may also refer to: Publishing * Canvas print, the result of an image printed onto canvas which is often stretched, or gallery-wrapped, onto a frame and displayed *Offset printing, the inked image is transferred from a plate to ...

). It allows clients to submit one or more

print job In computing, a print job is a file or set of files that has been submitted to be printed with a printer. Jobs are typically identified by a unique number, and are assigned to a particular destination, usually a printer. Jobs can also have optio ...

s to the printer or print server, and perform tasks such as querying the status of a

printer Printer may refer to: Technology * Printer (publishing), a person * Printer (computing), a hardware device * Optical printer for motion picture films People * Nariman Printer (fl. c. 1940), Indian journalist and activist * James Printer (1640 ...

, obtaining the status of print jobs, or cancelling individual print jobs.

Dedicated protocols

Protocols listed here are specific for printing. * The

Line Printer Daemon protocol The Line Printer Daemon protocol/Line Printer Remote protocol (or LPD, LPR) is a network printing protocol for submitting print jobs to a remote printer. The original implementation of LPD was in the Berkeley printing system in the BSD UNIX ope ...

/Line Printer Remote protocol (or LPD, LPR) is a network protocol for submitting print jobs to a remote printer. The original implementation of LPD was in the

Berkeley printing system The Berkeley printing system is one of several standard architectures for printing on the Unix platform. It originated in 2.10BSD, and is still used to varying degrees in BSD derivatives such as FreeBSD, NetBSD, OpenBSD, and DragonFly BSD. A syst ...

in the 2.10

BSD The Berkeley Software Distribution (BSD), also known as Berkeley Unix or BSD Unix, is a discontinued Unix operating system developed and distributed by the Computer Systems Research Group (CSRG) at the University of California, Berkeley, beginni ...

UNIX operating system in 1988; the

LPRng LPRng is an open-source printing system compatible with the Berkeley printing system and implemented by many open-source Unix-like operating systems. It provides printer spooling and network print server functionality using the Line Printer Daemo ...

project also supports that protocol. The LPD Protocol Specification is documented in RFC 1179. LPD printing normally happens over port 515. * AppSocket, also known as port 9100, RAW,

JetDirect JetDirect is a line of external print servers formerly sold by Hewlett-Packard (HP). The JetDirect allows computer printers to be directly attached to a local area network. The "JetDirect" designation covers a range of models from the external ...

, or Windows TCPmon is a protocol that was developed by

Tektronix Tektronix, Inc., historically widely known as Tek, is an American company best known for manufacturing test and measurement devices such as oscilloscopes, logic analyzers, and video and mobile test protocol equipment. Originally an independent c ...

. It is considered as 'the simplest, fastest, and generally the most reliable network protocol used for printers' though 'it also offers no security and is often an attack vector with printers'. AppSocket printing normally happens over port 9100. * The

Internet Printing Protocol The Internet Printing Protocol (IPP) is a specialized communication protocol used between client devices (computers, mobile phones, tablets, etc.) and printers (or print servers). The protocol allows clients to submit one or more print jobs to t ...

(IPP) is an

Internet protocol The Internet Protocol (IP) is the network layer communications protocol in the Internet protocol suite for relaying datagrams across network boundaries. Its routing function enables internetworking, and essentially establishes the Internet. IP ...

for communication between client devices (computers, mobile phones, tablets, etc.) and printers (or

). IPP can run locally or over the

Internet The Internet (or internet) is the Global network, global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a internetworking, network of networks ...

. Unlike other printing protocols, IPP also supports

access control In physical security and information security, access control (AC) is the action of deciding whether a subject should be granted or denied access to an object (for example, a place or a resource). The act of ''accessing'' may mean consuming ...

authentication Authentication (from ''authentikos'', "real, genuine", from αὐθέντης ''authentes'', "author") is the act of proving an Logical assertion, assertion, such as the Digital identity, identity of a computer system user. In contrast with iden ...

, and

encryption In Cryptography law, cryptography, encryption (more specifically, Code, encoding) is the process of transforming information in a way that, ideally, only authorized parties can decode. This process converts the original representation of the inf ...

, making it a much more capable and secure printing mechanism than older ones. IPP printing normally happens over port 631. It is the default protocol in

Android Android most commonly refers to: *Android (robot), a humanoid robot or synthetic organism designed to imitate a human * Android (operating system), a mobile operating system primarily developed by Google * Android TV, a operating system developed ...

and

iOS Ios, Io or Nio (, ; ; locally Nios, Νιός) is a Greek island in the Cyclades group in the Aegean Sea. Ios is a hilly island with cliffs down to the sea on most sides. It is situated halfway between Naxos and Santorini. It is about long an ...

Generic protocols

These protocols put the printer as similar class to remote disks, scanners and multimedia devices. This is especially true for

multi-function printer An MFP (multi-function product/printer/peripheral), multi-functional, all-in-one (AIO), or multi-function device (MFD), is an office machine which incorporates the functionality of multiple devices in one, so as to have a smaller footprint in a ...

s, that also produce image files (scans and faxes) and send them back through the network. *

Telnet Telnet (sometimes stylized TELNET) is a client-server application protocol that provides access to virtual terminals of remote systems on local area networks or the Internet. It is a protocol for bidirectional 8-bit communications. Its main ...

is based on simply transferring data safely to/from TCP ports that are now being used for printing purposes. This approach is sometimes called raw TCP/IP, Stream, or direct sockets printing. *

Server Message Block Server Message Block (SMB) is a communication protocol used to share files, printers, serial ports, and miscellaneous communications between nodes on a network. On Microsoft Windows, the SMB implementation consists of two vaguely named Windows ...

(SMB) is an application-layer network protocol for file and printer sharing originally developed by

IBM International Business Machines Corporation (using the trademark IBM), nicknamed Big Blue, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational technology company headquartered in Armonk, New York, and present in over 175 countries. It is ...

in the mid-80s. It is the default method used by Windows based computers to share files and printers.

Wireless protocols

Wireless protocols are designed for wireless devices. This kind of protocol is based on one kind of printing protocols plus

Zero-configuration networking Zero-configuration networking (zeroconf) is a set of technologies that automatically creates a usable computer network based on the Internet Protocol Suite (TCP/IP) when computers or network peripherals are interconnected. It does not require manu ...

(zeroconf) mechanisms. In this way, printers can be used by wireless devices seamlessly. Note that the printer itself is not necessary to be wireless. *

AirPrint AirPrint is a feature in Apple Inc.'s macOS, iOS, and iPadOS operating systems for printing without installing printer-specific drivers. Connection is via a local area network (often via Wi-Fi), either directly to AirPrint-compatible printer ...

is a feature in

Apple Inc. Apple Inc. is an American multinational corporation and technology company headquartered in Cupertino, California, in Silicon Valley. It is best known for its consumer electronics, software, and services. Founded in 1976 as Apple Comput ...

macOS macOS, previously OS X and originally Mac OS X, is a Unix, Unix-based operating system developed and marketed by Apple Inc., Apple since 2001. It is the current operating system for Apple's Mac (computer), Mac computers. With ...

and

operating systems for printing via a

wireless LAN A wireless LAN (WLAN) is a wireless computer network that links two or more devices using wireless communication to form a local area network (LAN) within a limited area such as a home, school, computer laboratory, campus, or office building ...

(Wi-Fi), either directly to AirPrint-compatible printers, or to non-compatible shared printers by way of a computer running

Microsoft Windows Windows is a Product lining, product line of Proprietary software, proprietary graphical user interface, graphical operating systems developed and marketed by Microsoft. It is grouped into families and subfamilies that cater to particular sec ...

Linux Linux ( ) is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an kernel (operating system), operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991, by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically package manager, pac ...

, or macOS. AirPrint is based on

mDNS Multicast DNS (mDNS) is a computer networking protocol that resolves hostnames to IP addresses within small networks that do not include a local name server. It is a zero-configuration service, using essentially the same programming interfaces, p ...

( Bonjour, more specifically) and

(IPP). It was originally intended for iOS devices and connected via a Wi-Fi network only, and thus required a Wi-Fi access point. However, with the introduction of AirPrint to the macOS desktop platform in 2012, Macs connected to the network via

ethernet Ethernet ( ) is a family of wired computer networking technologies commonly used in local area networks (LAN), metropolitan area networks (MAN) and wide area networks (WAN). It was commercially introduced in 1980 and first standardized in 198 ...

connection could also print using the AirPrint protocol—not just those connected via Wi-Fi. *

Mopria Alliance The Mopria Alliance is an association of printer Printer may refer to: Technology * Printer (publishing), a person * Printer (computing), a hardware device * Optical printer for motion picture films People * Nariman Printer (fl. c. 1940 ...

provides a protocol which is adopted by

and available in

Windows 10 Windows 10 is a major release of Microsoft's Windows NT operating system. The successor to Windows 8.1, it was Software release cycle#Release to manufacturing (RTM), released to manufacturing on July 15, 2015, and later to retail on July 2 ...

. It uses

for service discovery and

(IPP) for printing, just like

. *

Windows Windows is a Product lining, product line of Proprietary software, proprietary graphical user interface, graphical operating systems developed and marketed by Microsoft. It is grouped into families and subfamilies that cater to particular sec ...

devices use Web Services for Devices (WSD) for service discovery and

(LPR) or

(RAW) for printing.

also supports

's way.

Internet protocols

The computer and the printer should be located on the same local area network (

LAN Lan or LAN may refer to: Science and technology * Local asymptotic normality, a fundamental property of regular models in statistics * Longitude of the ascending node, one of the orbital elements used to specify the orbit of an object in space * ...

) when using all of the above protocols. Internet printing protocols is designed for Internet printing. *

Google Cloud Print Google Cloud Print was a Google service that allowed users to print from any Cloud Print-aware application (web, desktop, mobile) on any device in the network cloud to any printer with native support for connecting to cloud print services � ...

(The service ended on December 31, 2020.)

References

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External links