IP audio is the transfer of sound information in IP packet data format. Transmission of IP audio involves digitizing sound, coding, addressing, transferring, receiving, decoding and converting (rendering) IP audio data into its original sound form.

This figure shows how video can be sent via an IP transmission system. This diagram shows that an IP audio system digitizes and reformats the original sound, codes and/or compresses the data, adds IP address information to each packet, transfers the packets through a packet data network, recombines the packets and extracts the digitized audio, decodes the data and converts the digital video back into its original audio form.