Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) is a general term which  refers to  systems where television and/or high quality  video signals are distributed to subscribers or viewers using a broadband connection over an IP network. IPTV is not a protocol itself.

IPTV can refer both to live TV (multicasting) programs, broadcast TV as well as unicast video transmissions. IPTV services uses high quality commercial codecs such as MPEG-2 and MPEG-4. The main protocols used for signaling are IGMP version 2 and RTSP.