MTU Size Reference
Reference for Maximum Transmission Unit sizes by network type.
MTU
1500 B
IP Header
20 B
TCP MSS
1460 B
UDP Payload
1472 B
Efficiency
97.3%
Packet Structure (MTU = 1500)
L2
IP
TCP
Payload (1460B)
| Medium | MTU | TCP MSS (IPv4) | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ethernet (standard) | 1500 | 1460 | Most common MTU. Default for most networks. |
| Ethernet (jumbo frames) | 9000 | 8960 | Used in data center and SAN environments. |
| PPPoE | 1492 | 1452 | DSL connections. 8 bytes less than standard Ethernet. |
| VPN (IPsec tunnel) | 1400 | 1360 | Varies by encryption. ESP adds overhead. |
| VPN (WireGuard) | 1420 | 1380 | Lower overhead than IPsec. |
| GRE Tunnel | 1476 | 1436 | 24 byte GRE header reduces payload. |
| VXLAN | 1450 | 1410 | 50 byte VXLAN overhead from encapsulation. |
| Wi-Fi (802.11) | 2304 | 2264 | Max frame size. Often capped to 1500 for compatibility. |
| IPv6 (minimum) | 1280 | 1240 | Minimum MTU required for IPv6. |
| Token Ring (4 Mbps) | 4464 | 4424 | Legacy technology. |
| FDDI | 4352 | 4312 | Legacy fiber ring technology. |
| Loopback (lo) | 65535 | 65495 | Local loopback interface. No real network overhead. |