WireGuard
A modern VPN protocol, around 4,000 lines of code, designed to be small enough to audit properly.
Glossary
Throughput retention
The share of your unencrypted line speed that survives once the VPN is connected, expressed as a percentage.
Why it matters
It is the only speed figure that transfers between situations. An absolute number tells you about the reviewer’s connection; a percentage tells you what to expect on yours.
What most explanations leave out
Retention still depends on distance to the server, protocol, and time of day. A figure without the client location, the server location, the protocol and the run count is not a measurement, it is an anecdote. This is the format our lab publishes in.
Related terms
VPN protocol
The set of rules governing how the tunnel is established and how data is encrypted inside it.
Terms are defined here because they appear in our scoring rubric or in provider reviews, not to fill a glossary.