What does FortiGate's "Traffic Shaping" functionality allow?

Traffic shaping is an essential feature of FortiGate devices that enables the prioritization and management of bandwidth for various applications across the network. This functionality allows administrators to ensure that critical applications receive the necessary bandwidth to operate efficiently while managing the resources used by less critical applications. By controlling how much bandwidth different types of traffic can consume, network performance can be optimized, reducing congestion and improving overall user experience.

Implementing traffic shaping also allows for policies to be set based on the application's requirements, ensuring that high-priority applications, such as VoIP or real-time video streaming, are preserved during high traffic periods. This capability is vital in environments where multiple applications compete for limited bandwidth.

In contrast, encryption of data during transmission, blocking applications, or converting data packet formats do not pertain to the primary purpose of traffic shaping. Instead, they focus on security, access control, and data manipulation, respectively, rather than bandwidth management and prioritization.