The ssh SOCKS proxy supports UDP. I use Firefox with a SOCKS proxy via ssh (e.g. ssh -D 2222 hostname) to get around geoblocking and accessing papers via an institutional account. The tsocks program can also let you use a SOCKS proxy for an arbitrary command in linux. I find it much more convenient than a VPN, as it can be easily applied to single programs.
The less cooperative your applications are (even though cooperation can be somewhat enforced using tsocks, as you mention, which can be further made to apply system-wide using sshuttle [1]), the more a VPN will start to make sense.
http://lists.mindrot.org/pipermail/openssh-unix-dev/2017-Jan...
Alternatively, you might be unknowingly using un-proxied UDP: Many AV systems only enforce IP restrictions on the signalling protocol (which is often TCP); the actual media can then take whatever path it wants.
By the way, it seems like you can forward UDP over sshuttle [1] when used with tproxy (which seems to be a Linux-only feature)!
1080 is often default for socks, but I've also seen places where it's 1085 (for socks5 -- 1084 for socks4)
Ultimately it can be whatever you want.