Number of packets is important

Generally, the number of packets being transferred is more important than the size of the packets. Network performance includes the time needed by the CPU and operating system to process a network packet. This per-packet overhead has the most effect on performance. Larger packets reduce the overall overhead costs and achieve higher physical throughput, provided that you have enough data to be sent.

The following big transfer sources may benefit from large packet sizes:

There is always a point at which increasing the packet size stops improving performance, and may, in fact, decrease performance, because the packets are not always full. Although there are analytical methods for predicting that point, it is more common to vary the size experimentally and plot the results. If you conduct such experiments over a period of time and a variety of conditions, you can determine a packet size that works well for many processes. However, since the packet size can be customized for every connection, you may also want to conduct specific experiments for specific processes.

Results can vary significantly between applications. You may find that bulk copy works best at one packet size, while large image data retrievals perform better at a different packet size.

If testing shows that some applications can achieve better performance with larger packet sizes, but that most applications send and receive small packets, clients request the larger packet size.