In telecommunication, a buffer is a routine or storage medium used in telecommunications to compensate for a difference in rate of flow of data, or time of occurrence of events, when transferring data from one device to another.

Buffers are used for many purposes, such as (a) interconnecting two digital circuits operating at different rates, (b) holding data for use at a later time, (c) allowing timing corrections to be made on a data stream, (d) collecting binary data bits into groups that can then be operated on as a unit, (e) delaying the transit time of a signal in order to allow other operations to occur.

See also

• Variable length buffer
• Optical buffer