What is Bonjour? 2023 Ultimate Guide

Bonjour (also meaning hello in French) enables users to easily set up a local area network (LAN) without any configuration. It allows devices and applications on LAN to discover and connect with each other. It’s beneficial for connecting Apple devices and applications to Windows and Linux devices. For example, Apple products work well together, but less so while connecting with a printer (typically designed for Windows). This is where Bonjour comes in. Before diving deeper, what is bonjour?

Initially named Rendezvous, Bonjour is Apple’s rendition of the zero-configuration networking protocols (Zeroconf). Essentially, Zeroconf is a set of open Layer 2 protocols allowing a quick setup of IP networks. You can discover devices and apps and share media libraries over the network.

It uses service-specific records for advertising the existence of applications. PTR records allow connections with every service in a domain, A and AAAA records translate a hostname into an IP address, and TXT records provide service descriptions. The service is built on a flexible API accessible through Foundation, Core Foundation, Java and Python.

How Does it Work?

Bonjour modifies Windows system registries related to internal networking configurations and operations. It’s a bunch of easily configurable rules that govern how hardware transmits or receives data over a network. Bonjour uses multicast DNS (mDNS) and link-local addressing to allow systems to assign and recognize IP addresses without automated dynamic host configuration protocols (DHCP). It can work with both IPv6 and IPv4 addressing and uses the native local-link addressing support on Windows. On a local network, bonjour-optimized devices can interact with each other without having you break a sweat on configuring complicated protocols.

Bonjour can also provide location services to applications by adding an abstract layer on mDNS. This layer maintains a list of every application and device on the network and allows you to browse and organize the data. Despite all these functions, Bonjour has low bandwidth consumption because it runs as a system service in the background, ensuring your internet speed doesn’t slow down.

For Apple Devices and Computers

Bonjour is pre-installed in all Apple devices including AppleTV, iOS phones, tablets, Macs and AirPort networking devices. Mac compatible-wireless printers also have Bonjour signal ports to connect to devices with the software installed. Devices and applications use the service to find shared media libraries and interact with each other over a local network.

Since Apple launched the software, it has gained support from different manufacturers. Cisco has turned its WLAN into a Bonjour gateway, providing network administrators with improved control over managing BYOD (bring your own device) end-users. Also, Adobe integrated Bonjour for Windows into their Creative Suite CS3 module.