In computer networking, large segment offload (LSO) is a technique for increasing outbound throughput of high-bandwidth network connections by reducing CPU overhead. It works by queuing up large buffers and letting the network interface card (NIC) split them into separate packets. The technique is also called TCP segmentation offload (TSO) when applied to TCP, or generic segmentation offload (GSO).
For example, a unit of 64kB (65,536 bytes) of data is usually segmented to 46 segments of 1448 bytes each before it is sent through the NIC and over the network. With some intelligence in the NIC, the host CPU can hand over the 64 KB of data to the NIC in a single transmit-request, the NIC can break that data down into smaller segments of 1448 bytes, add the TCP, IP, and data link layer protocol headers - according to a template provided by the host's TCP/IP stack - to each segment, and send the resulting frames over the network. This significantly reduces the work done by the CPU. As of 2014 many new NICs on the market support TSO.