Path MTU Probe
Discover the path Maximum Transmission Unit (MTU) to a host by sending increasingly large pings with the Don't Fragment (DF) bit set (binary search).
Path MTU = ICMP payload + 28 bytes (20 IP header + 8 ICMP header). Hosts that block ICMP entirely will appear unreachable here even if HTTP works.
Monitor this automatically
NetTests can run this check on a schedule, preserve historical results, compare changes over time, and alert you the moment something breaks.
Start monitoring free → See all monitoring productsFrequently Asked Questions
What is MTU?
Maximum Transmission Unit (MTU) is the largest packet size a network path can carry without fragmentation. Ethernet's default MTU is 1500 bytes. If a packet exceeds the MTU of any link along the path, it's either fragmented (broken into smaller pieces) or dropped if the Don't Fragment (DF) bit is set.
What is path MTU discovery?
Path Maximum Transmission Unit Discovery (PMTUD) finds the smallest Maximum Transmission Unit (MTU) along the entire network path to a destination. This tool probes by sending Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP) packets with DF=1 of increasing size (binary search). If a packet is too large for a link, a 'Fragmentation Needed' ICMP message is returned, revealing the actual MTU of that segment.
What causes MTU problems?
Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) and tunnels (Internet Protocol Security (IPsec), Generic Routing Encapsulation (GRE), Virtual Extensible LAN (VXLAN)) add headers that reduce the effective Maximum Transmission Unit (MTU) — a VPN tunnel with 1500-byte outer MTU may only support 1360–1440 bytes of payload. When path MTU is lower than what endpoints assume, Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) connections hang or perform very slowly (the 'black hole' problem). Setting TCP Maximum Segment Size (MSS) clamping on VPN interfaces resolves most cases.
What is a common MTU for VPN connections?
WireGuard typically works at 1420 bytes; OpenVPN User Datagram Protocol (UDP) at 1500 minus the tunnel overhead (typically 1400–1450); Internet Protocol Security (IPsec) with Encapsulating Security Payload (ESP) at 1400 or lower depending on cipher. If you're troubleshooting slow Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) over Virtual Private Network (VPN), try explicitly setting the Maximum Transmission Unit (MTU) to 1400 on the VPN interface and see if performance improves.