The most accurate description of a packet is "a sliver of data". A packet is a unit of data that is transmitted over a computer network, and it contains a portion of the data being transmitted along with additional information about the destination, source, and routing of the packet. Packets are used to efficiently transmit data over a network, as they allow for the data to be broken up into smaller chunks that can be sent and received independently. Therefore, a packet is not a coded message, bundle of photons, or a computer file, but rather a specific portion of data that is sent over a network.