The world's most popular network protocol analyzer.
Wireshark is an open-source packet analyzer that allows users to capture, analyze, and troubleshoot network traffic. It can be used to troubleshoot problematic networks, identify security issues, or just to get a better understanding of how a network operates.
Wireshark (formerly known as Ethereal) is a very popular, completely free and highly recommended network protocol analyzer. It can view data in real-time and also log the data being sent on a network to a file on disk. With this networking utility, you can perform real-time and interactive analysis of the data that has been captured, perfect for diagnosis errors on a network.
Some of the powerful features available include the ability to view the (reconstructed) stream of a TCP/UDP session while supportng literally hundreds of different types of data and media.
A separate program is also include called tshark. For those familiar, tshark is the equivalent of tcpdump, which is traditionally a console-only version of Wireshark.
Called by some the Swiss army knife of network troubleshooting, is it by far one of the best Network sniffers available on the market and the very best among free applications.
To sum it up
Wireshark is an indispensable tool for any network engineer or IT professional. With its powerful features, easy-to-use interface, and open-source nature, Wireshark makes it easy to capture and analyze network traffic. Whether you're troubleshooting a network problem or just getting a better understanding of network traffic, Wireshark is the perfect tool for the job.
Features of Wireshark
- Bandwidth Analysis: Monitor network bandwidth usage.
- Coloring Rules: Color packets based on user-defined criteria.
- Decryption: Decrypt packets and view encrypted data.
- Deep Packet Inspection: View packet headers and payloads.
- Endpoint Analysis: Analyze endpoint traffic.
- Expert System: Automatically detect potential network issues.
- Extensible with Plugins: Expand functionality through plugins.
- File Analysis: Analyze PCAP and log files.
- Live Capture: Capture and analyze data in real-time.
- Network Analysis: Identify network protocols and performance.
- Network Statistics: Generate network traffic statistics.
- Packet Filtering: Create custom filters for specific packets.
- Portability: Analyze data on-the-go with remote capture.
- Protocol Decoder: Comprehensive collection of protocol decoders.
- VoIP Analysis: Analyze voice over IP traffic.
Compatibility and License
Wireshark is provided under a freeware license on Windows from network auditing software with no restrictions on usage. Download and installation of this PC software is free and 4.4.1 is the latest version last time we checked.
What version of Windows can Wireshark run on?
Wireshark can be used on a computer running Windows 11 or Windows 10. Previous versions of the OS shouldn't be a problem with Windows 8 and Windows 7 having been tested. It's only available as a 64-bit download.
Other operating systems: The latest Wireshark version from 2024 is also available for Mac.
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