What is SIP (Session Initiation Protocol)?
SIP (Session Initiation Protocol, RFC 3261) is the signaling protocol that sets up, modifies, and tears down real-time voice and video sessions over IP. It handles the call control — inviting, ringing, answering, and hanging up — while the actual audio travels separately as RTP media negotiated through an SDP offer/answer inside the SIP messages. SIP is the backbone of VoIP, SIP trunking, and programmable voice. See /answers/what-is-rtp, /answers/what-is-sdp, and /answers/voice-api-sip-trunking.
Need help wiring this up?
The pages below are the products and integration guides that put this concept on the wire. If you'd rather walk through it live, our engineering team takes calls same-day during MENA working hours.
Talk to our engineering teamWas this answer helpful?
Your vote helps us prioritise which answers to expand with examples, diagrams, and code snippets.
Talk to a real engineer about your build.
We reply within one business day, and production accounts get 24/7 support. Our solutions engineers ship code, not scripts.