WinPcap is an architecture for packet capture and network analysis for the Win32 platforms. It includes a kernel-level packet filter, a low-level dynamic link library (packet.dll), and a high-level and system-independent library (wpcap.dll, based on libpcap version 0.5).
The packet filter is a device driver that adds to Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows ME, Windows NT, and Windows 2000 the ability to capture and send raw data from a network card, with the possibility to filter and store in a buffer the captured packets.
Packet.dll is an API that can be used to access directly the functions of the packet driver, offering a programming interface independent from the Microsoft OS.
Wpcap.dll exports a set of high-level capture primitives that are compatible with libpcap, the famous UNIX capture library. These functions allow capturing packets in a way independent from the underlying network hardware and operating system.
