What is the significance of flow control in the Transport layer?

Flow control is an essential mechanism in the Transport layer of the OSI model that plays a critical role in managing the rate of data transmission between sender and receiver. Its primary significance lies in preventing data loss during transmission. By controlling the flow of data, it ensures that a sender does not overwhelm a receiver with too much data too quickly, which can lead to data packets being dropped or lost, particularly if the receiver's buffer becomes full.

This mechanism enables efficient communication by allowing the sender to adjust the data transmission rate based on the receiver’s ability to process that data. Effective flow control contributes significantly to the reliability of network communication, particularly in environments with variable bandwidth or limited resources. By maintaining a balance between sending and receiving capacities, flow control optimizes the overall performance of the network and helps ensure that data is accurately transmitted and received.