Simple Mail Transfer Protocol Definition. The messages can then be retrieved with an e mail client using either pop or imap. Smtp stands for simple mail transfer protocol and its an application used by mail servers to send receive andor relay outgoing mail between email senders and receivers.
It is sometimes paired with imap or pop3 for example by a user level application which handles the retrieval of messages while smtp primarily sends messages to a server for forwarding. What is simple mail transfer protocol smtp. Simple mail transfer protocol smtp is the standard protocol for email services on a tcpip network.
Smtp simple mail transfer protocol is a tcpip protocol used in sending and receiving e mail.
While this document specifically discusses transport over tcp other transports are possible. It is a server to server protocol so other protocols are used to access the messages. Esmtp extended simple mail transfer protocol specifies extensions to the original protocol for sending e mail that supports graphics audio and video files and text in. Transport of electronic mail the objective of the simple mail transfer protocol smtp is to transfer mail reliably and efficiently.