# Tunnel


An IP tunnel is an [IP](/glossary/i/ip) network channel between two networks. It is used to transfer data using a different [protocol](/glossary/p/protocol) by wrapping its [packets](/glossary/p/packet) in packets of a different type.

In IP tunnelling, every IP packet, including addressing information of its source and destination IP networks, is encapsulated within another packet format native to the transit network.