# Photon Realtime Transport Protocol

**Canonical:** https://apis.io/apis/photonengine/photonengine-realtime-transport-api/  
**Provider:** Photon Engine — https://apis.io/providers/photonengine/  
**Base URL:** wss://ns.exitgames.com:443  
**Documentation:** https://doc.photonengine.com/realtime/current/getting-started/realtime-intro

Photon Realtime Transport Protocol is one of 9 APIs that [Photon Engine](https://apis.io/providers/photonengine/) publishes on the [APIs.io](https://apis.io/) network, described by an AsyncAPI event-driven specification. Tagged areas include Real-Time, Binary Protocol, UDP, TCP, and WebSocket. The published artifact set on APIs.io includes API documentation, an API reference, and an AsyncAPI specification.

The core Photon protocol - NOT a REST or JSON API. Clients connect through a Name Server to a Master Server (matchmaking/lobby) and then a Game Server (room gameplay), exchanging a proprietary binary message format (operation requests, operation responses, and events framed inside eNet-style commands) over UDP (reliable/unreliable), TCP, or WebSocket. WebSocket is a first-class documented transport - clients set ConnectionProtocol to WebSocket or WebSocketSecure and connect with ws:// on port 80 or wss:// on port 443 (9090/19090 for self-hosted/Cloud Master listeners) - used primarily for WebGL and browser-hosted game clients.

## Machine-readable artifacts (5)

- **Documentation** — https://doc.photonengine.com/realtime/current/getting-started/realtime-intro
- **APIReference** — https://doc.photonengine.com/realtime/current/reference/binary-protocol
- **Documentation** — https://doc.photonengine.com/realtime/current/connection-and-authentication/secure-networks
- **AsyncAPI** — https://raw.githubusercontent.com/api-evangelist/photonengine/refs/heads/main/asyncapi/photonengine-asyncapi.yml
- **APIsJSON** — https://raw.githubusercontent.com/api-evangelist/photonengine/refs/heads/main/apis.yml

## Other Photon Engine APIs (8)

- [Photon PUN (Photon Unity Networking) API](https://apis.io/apis/photonengine/photonengine-pun-api/)
- [Photon Fusion Networking API](https://apis.io/apis/photonengine/photonengine-fusion-api/)
- [Photon Quantum Deterministic Simulation API](https://apis.io/apis/photonengine/photonengine-quantum-api/)
- [Photon Voice API](https://apis.io/apis/photonengine/photonengine-voice-api/)
- [Photon Chat API](https://apis.io/apis/photonengine/photonengine-chat-api/)
- [Photon Bolt (Legacy, Deprecated)](https://apis.io/apis/photonengine/photonengine-bolt-api/)
- [Photon Engine Custom Authentication API](https://apis.io/apis/photonengine/photonengine-custom-authentication-api/)
- [Photon Engine Room Lifecycle WebHooks API](https://apis.io/apis/photonengine/photonengine-room-lifecycle-webhooks-api/)

## Tags

Real-Time, Binary Protocol, UDP, TCP, WebSocket

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Profiled by [API Evangelist](https://apievangelist.com) and published on [APIs.io](https://apis.io/apis/photonengine/photonengine-realtime-transport-api/). The API's provider profile, Kin Score and agent-readiness rating are at https://apis.io/providers/photonengine/.