What are the main architectural differences between classical VPN tunnels and modern censorship-circumvention tools of the V2Ray and Xray level?

Classical VPN protocols, such as OpenVPN or IPsec, create a virtual network interface and encapsulate all network traffic, including packet headers. At the same time, the network signatures of such protocols are easily recognized by modern Deep Packet Inspection (DPI) systems, which are used by providers to block unwanted connections based on characteristic connection establishment patterns.

Modern circumvention tools, such as V2Ray and the Xray platform, function fundamentally differently. They not only encrypt data but also disguise it as legitimate HTTPS traffic using various transport protocols such as gRPC, WebSocket, or TCP with header spoofing mimicking standard web requests.

The main idea of such systems is proxying traffic within a multi-protocol platform that is capable of splitting incoming connections and routing them through various node chains. To an external observer, the system can look like an ordinary secure website, making automatic detection and blocking of such connections practically impossible without deep content analysis.

Configuring such solutions requires creating complex JSON configuration files that describe incoming and outgoing proxy modules, routing rules, and masking parameters. This makes them less user-friendly for ordinary users, but indispensable for engineers and administrators who require guaranteed network connectivity under strict network restrictions.