1. Optical fiber is a thin and soft medium for transmitting light beams.Most optical fiber must be covered by several layers of protective structure before use, the coated cable is called cable.So the optical fiber is the core of the optical cable, optical fiber through some components and auxiliary protective layer of the protection of the cable.

The protective structure of the outer fiber can prevent the damage of the surrounding environment to the fiber.Fiber optic cable includes fiber, buffer layer and coating.Fiber optics are similar to coaxial cables, except without mesh shielding.The center is the glass core through which light travels.

Optical fibers are usually bundled together and protected by an outer shell.The core is usually a small, cross-sectional, double-layer concentric cylinder made of quartz glass that is brittle and brittle, so it needs an extra layer of protection.So that's the difference.

2. Optical fiber cable: it is mainly composed of optical fiber (thin glass fiber like hair), plastic protective sleeve and plastic skin. There are no metals such as gold, silver, copper and aluminum in the optical fiber cable, and generally no recycling value.Fiber optic cable is a kind of communication line in which a certain number of optical fibers are composed of cable cores in a certain way, and the outer sheath is provided, and some of the outer sheath is also covered to realize optical signal transmission.Namely: optical cable by optical fiber (optical transmission carrier) through a certain process and formed by the cable.

Fiber optic cable is a new generation of transmission medium, compared with copper medium, optical fiber in terms of security, reliability and network performance has been greatly improved.The bandwidth of optical fiber transmission is much larger than that of copper cable, and the maximum distance supported is more than two kilometers.Optical fiber and cable has the advantages of good anti-electromagnetic interference, strong confidentiality, fast speed and large transmission capacity. 

At present, there are two different types of optical fiber, namely single-mode optical fiber and multi-mode optical fiber.Multimode optical fiber is commonly used for network connections in the same office building or in relatively close areas.Single-mode fiber, by contrast, delivers better quality data over longer distances and is often used to connect networks between office buildings or that are more geographically dispersed.If the use of optical fiber and cable as network transmission medium, also need to add optical end transceiver and other equipment.