What Does Port Number Mean?
A port number is the logical address of each application or process that uses a network or the Internet to communicate. A port number uniquely identifies a network-based application on a computer. Each application/program is allocated a 16-bit integer port number. This number is assigned automatically by the OS, manually by the user or is set as a default for some popular applications.
Techopedia Explains Port Number
A port number primarily aids in the transmission of data between a network and an application. Port numbers work in collaboration with networking protocols to achieve this. For example, in an incoming message/packet, the IP address is used to identify the destination computer/node, whereas the port number further specifies the destination application/program in that computer. Similarly, all outgoing network packets contain application port numbers in the packet header to enable the receiver to distinguish the specific application.
