Windows Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) operates at the presentation layer, compressing and encrypting data before transmission. The actual bandwidth consumption varies based on:

• Screen resolution settings (e.g., 1920x1080 vs 800x600)
• Color depth configuration (16-bit vs 32-bit)
• Resource redirection (printer/clipboard/disk)
• Network-level compression settings

Based on empirical testing with Wireshark captures:

// Sample bandwidth monitoring code snippet
using System.Net.NetworkInformation;

public class RDPMonitor {
    public static void Main() {
        NetworkInterface[] interfaces = NetworkInterface.GetAllNetworkInterfaces();
        foreach (var iface in interfaces) {
            IPv4InterfaceStatistics stats = iface.GetIPv4Statistics();
            Console.WriteLine($"Interface: {iface.Name}");
            Console.WriteLine($"Bytes Received: {stats.BytesReceived/1024} KB");
            Console.WriteLine($"Bytes Sent: {stats.BytesSent/1024} KB");
        }
    }
}

Modify the RDP connection file (.rdp) with these parameters:

screen mode id:i:2
desktopwidth:i:1280
desktopheight:i:720
session bpp:i:16
compression:i:1
networkautodetect:i:1
bandwidthautodetect:i:1

For precise measurement during active sessions:

# PowerShell bandwidth logger
$startTime = Get-Date
$startStats = Get-NetAdapterStatistics -Name "Ethernet"

# Remote session activities occur here...

$endStats = Get-NetAdapterStatistics -Name "Ethernet"
$elapsed = (Get-Date) - $startTime
$bytesUsed = $endStats.ReceivedBytes - $startStats.ReceivedBytes
$MBperHour = ($bytesUsed/1MB) / ($elapsed.TotalHours)
Write-Output "Bandwidth consumption: $($MBperHour.ToString('0.00')) MB/hour"

For system administrators managing multiple RDP sessions:

1. Implement QoS policies on network hardware
2. Configure Group Policy for RDP optimization
3. Consider RemoteFX for WAN acceleration
4. Monitor with SNMP or NetFlow analyzers

# Start measurement
$startBytes = (Get-NetAdapter | Where-Object {$_.Status -eq "Up"}).ReceivedBytes

# After session completes
$endBytes = (Get-NetAdapter | Where-Object {$_.Status -eq "Up"}).ReceivedBytes
$dataUsedMB = [math]::Round(($endBytes - $startBytes)/1MB, 2)
Write-Host "RDP Session used $dataUsedMB MB"

screen mode id:i:2
desktopwidth:i:1280
desktopheight:i:720
session bpp:i:16
compression:i:1
bandwidthautodetect:i:1
networkautodetect:i:1
audiomode:i:0

using System;
using MSTSCLib;

class RdpThrottler {
    static void Main() {
        MsRdpClient9NotSafeForScripting rdp = new MsRdpClient9NotSafeForScripting();
        rdp.AdvancedSettings2.BandwidthDetection = true;
        rdp.AdvancedSettings2.ConnectionType = 7; // Auto-detect
        rdp.AdvancedSettings2.Compress = 1; // Enable compression
        rdp.AdvancedSettings2.RedirectDrives = false; // Disable drive redirection
        rdp.Connect("your_server", "username", "domain");
    }
}