Port 1398 sits in the IANA registry with an official assignment to a service called "video-activmail"—Video Active Mail. Both TCP and UDP variants are registered. And yet, if you're running a modern network, you've probably never seen traffic on this port.
This is the reality of the registered port range: thousands of ports officially assigned to protocols that never achieved widespread adoption, or did once and faded away.
What Is Video Active Mail?
Video Active Mail was designed as a multimedia email protocol—a way to send video messages through email systems. The concept made sense in the 1990s and early 2000s when multimedia messaging was still finding its form.
Today, we accomplish the same thing differently. Email attachments handle video files. Cloud storage links replace large embedded media. Messaging apps have video calling built in. The specific protocol that port 1398 was meant to serve became unnecessary.
The company ActivMail still exists, offering unified messaging services—SMS gateways, fax-to-email, voice messages, and file exchange—but there's no mention of the original video-activmail protocol on their modern website.1
The Registered Port Range
Port 1398 belongs to the registered port range (1024-49151). These ports are assigned by IANA to specific services upon request, but unlike well-known ports (0-1023), they don't require the same level of standardization or widespread implementation.2
When a company or protocol developer needs a port number, they can request one from IANA. The port gets registered. The service launches—or doesn't. The protocol succeeds—or fades into obscurity.
Port 1398 is what happens when the latter occurs. The registration remains, but the traffic doesn't.
What's Actually Listening Here?
On most systems, nothing.
You can check what's listening on port 1398 with standard tools:
Linux/macOS:
Windows:
If something is listening, it's worth investigating. Modern applications occasionally reuse obscure registered ports for internal services, assuming no one else is using them. This works until it doesn't.
Why Unassigned and Obscure Ports Matter
The Internet's port system is a finite resource. Only 65,535 ports exist for TCP, and the same for UDP. Of those, the registered range contains about 48,000 ports.
Many are assigned to protocols that never gained traction. Some are assigned to proprietary services used only within specific companies. Others, like port 1398, represent ideas that made sense at the time but were superseded by better solutions.
These ports aren't wasted—they're available. If video-activmail truly disappeared, the port could theoretically be reassigned. But IANA tends to leave historical assignments in place to avoid conflicts with legacy systems that might still be running somewhere.
Because there's always a server in a basement somewhere, still running the old protocol, still listening on port 1398, still waiting for a video email that will never arrive.
Security Considerations
Obscure ports present a minor security consideration: attackers sometimes scan the entire port range looking for open services. If you're running something on port 1398, make sure you intended to.
More importantly, if you see unexpected traffic on port 1398, investigate it. Malware occasionally uses obscure registered ports for command-and-control communication, assuming they'll go unnoticed.
Related Ports
Port 1398 sits near other registered ports from the same era:
- Port 1397: Unknown/Unassigned in many registries
- Port 1399: Unknown/Unassigned in many registries
- Port 25 (SMTP): The standard email protocol that video-activmail would have worked alongside
- Port 587 (SMTP Submission): Modern email submission, the ecosystem video-activmail was meant to enhance
Frequently Asked Questions
¿Fue útil esta página?