Learn Wireshark - Fundamentals of Wireshark

Decoding the raw bits

Traffic enters a network interface card in binary form one frame at a time. While capturing data from the network is possible, it will enter the interface as random binary data. The following diagram represents the illustration of converting bits into a human-readable format:

Converting bits into a human-readable form

While in this phase, Wireshark uses the Enhanced Packet Analyzer (EPAN), which decodes the bits into human-readable form.