---
title: Determining Whether To Use a Routed or Bridged VPN
canonical: https://openvpn.net/community-docs/determining-whether-to-use-a-routed-or-bridged-vpn/
product: Community Docs
---

# Determining Whether To Use a Routed or Bridged VPN

Refer to this community wiki article for an overview of routing versus bridging: [What is the difference between bridging and routing?](https://community.openvpn.net/FAQ/309-what-is-the-difference-between-bridging-and-routing). You can also refer to [Ethernet Bridging](https://openvpn.net/community-docs/ethernet-bridging.md) for more notes and details on bridging.

Overall, routing is probably a better choice for most people, as it is more efficient and easier to set up (as far as the OpenVPN configuration itself) than bridging. Routing also provides a greater ability to selectively control access rights on a client-specific basis.

We recommend using routing unless you need a specific feature which requires bridging, such as:

- The VPN needs to be able to handle non-IP protocols such as IPX.
- You're running applications over the VPN which rely on network broadcasts (such as LAN games).
- You would like to allow browsing of Windows file shares across the VPN without setting up a Samba or WINS server.

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Index: https://openvpn.net/community-docs/llms.txt