Abstract: An application-based traffic classification method for ensuring quality-of-service requirements for at least one network comprises at least one preprocessing-related step, a data classification-related step, and a learning-related step; the preprocessing-related step includes at least a windowing and sampling substep, a sub step of generating a classification dataset with labels, and a sub step of Lloyd-Max quantization, whereby an input stream is modeled as a discrete time Markov chain; the learning-related step includes at least one substep of training at least one classifier selected from a group including a classifier for a mixture of Markov components, a classifier for a k-nearest Markov component, and a classifier for a k-nearest Markov parameter; the classification-related step comprises at least one instance of application identification whereby the type of the application is determined using the trained classifier in said learning-related step.