eli5: How exactly are emails sent, like the actual process of the data getting sent to another device that’s for example on another continent?

Question

eli5: How exactly are emails sent, like the actual process of the data getting sent to another device that’s for example on another continent?

In: Technology

Answer 1

There are a bunch of standard communications protocols that make up what we call “The internet,” like **H**yper**t**ext **T**ransfer **P**rotocol (http) which transfers webpages from their server to your device.

When you send an email, your computer converts the text and the relevant formatting information into a message, which it transmits to the recipient’s mail server using a protocol called Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP.) When a user “checks their email,” they download messages from the mail server using one of two protocols – Internet Message Access Protocol (IMAP) or Post Office Protocol Version 3 (POP3.)

Essentially the process is – you compose an email, SMTP sends it to the recipient’s mail server. Recipient downloads the email from the server using IMAP or POP3.