Apple's version of the Zeroconf (zero configuration) standard from the IETF. Used to automatically configure devices and discover services on an IP network, Bonjour is the most widely used implementation of Zeroconf. It comes with the Mac OS X operating system and is built into a great majority of printers. It is also built into the Windows version of iTunes.

On the Mac, Bonjour is used to create buddy lists of available iChat users as well as let people share their iTunes playlists with other network users. It enables Safari Web browser users to find all the Zeroconf-enabled Web servers in the network. Web servers are widely used not just for HTML pages, but function as control panels in a myriad of devices such as routers and Webcams.

Bonjour for Windows
A Bonjour plug-in for Internet Explorer can also be downloaded and installed to discover Bonjour-enabled printers and devices in the network. Introduced in 2002 as Rendezvous, Apple renamed the software in 2005 due to a trademark conflict. See Zeroconf, UPnP, Mac OS X and Firefly.