9.4. Confidentiality of the RTP Header

9.4. Confidentiality of the RTP Header

In SRTP, RTP headers are sent in the clear to allow for header compression. This means that data such as payload type, synchronization source identifier, and timestamp are available to an eavesdropper. Moreover, since RTP allows for future extensions of headers, we cannot foresee what kind of possibly sensitive information might also be "leaked".

SRTP is a low-cost method, which allows header compression to reduce bandwidth. It is up to the endpoints' policies to decide about the security protocol to employ. If one really needs to protect headers, and is allowed to do so by the surrounding environment, then one should also look at alternatives, e.g., IPsec [RFC2401].