The IETF document series, begun in 1969, which describes the Internet suite of protocols and related experiments. Not all (in fact very few) RFCs describe Internet standards, but all Internet standards are written up as RFCs.
An Internet standard. The name arose at a time when the documents were regarded as proposals to be submitted to a then-nonexistent but anticipated formal approval process of some sort. The formal approval process never materialized. RPC
A document used to publish networking related policies and protocols so that interested parties can submit comments and recommend changes. After a period of time, the RFC is adopted as a standard by the U.S. government and industry. Protocols such as TCP/IP and NFS have been defined by RFCs.
The basis for an IETF standard, abbreviated as RFC.
A document proposing a change or innovation in the structure, protocols or applications used on the Internet. These are the core documents through which the evolution of the Internet is discussed and decided. All RFCs are archived at rfc.net
An IETF document, either FYI (For Your Information) RFC sub-series that are overviews and introductory or STD RFC sub-series that identify specify Internet standards. Each RFC has an RFC number by which it is indexed and by which it can be retrieved ( www.ietf.org ).