Hosted realtime audio/video conferencing
Use https://sip2sip.info/ for now, and try limit max. 6 video participants
Recommendations
Ideal would be to self-host,
but no such solutions are readyly available in Debian yet.
Current recommendation is therefore to use a cloud service
built with Free software, light on resources,
and realistic to fully self-host later if needed.
Generally most reliable is https://sip2sip.info/,
so use that unless you need a specific feature unavailable there.
sip2sip.info
Login is intuitive and step-wise,
using ad-hoc identity.
Connect to https://sip2sip.info/ and select room name,
and you are redirected to a room URL
(room URL is however long to type and at another commercial site).
Media selection is done reliably
before entering the room
(except if you cancel browser dialog, then login page is trapped).
Streaming and rendering is efficient.
Video focus can optionally be locked onto 1-2 "speakers".
Unknown how larger meetings are handled.
Includes text chat
(crucial in case of audio trouble).
letsmeet.no
Login is intuitive and step-wise,
using either ad-hoc or Feide (EduGAIN, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn) identity.
Connect to https://letsmeet.no/ and select room name,
and you are redirected to an intuitive room URL.
Media selection is done unreliably
(not reliably detecting available devices)
when entering the room
(if browser dialog is cancelled you enter room in a broken unrepariable state)
Streaming and rendering is inefficient
(heavy CPU load).
Video focus can optionally be limited to an arbitrary amount of "speakers"
(limiting only by number not locked onto specific participants).
Unknown how larger meetings are handled.
Includes text chat
(crucial in case of audio trouble).
tawk.space
No login.
Connect to https://tawk.space/
which is one big "room".
Media selection is done only using browser dialog.
(if browser dialog is cancelled you enter room in a broken unrepariable state)
Streaming is unreliable
(may fail to initiate video, and video freezes after ~10 seconds);
rendering is efficient.
Unknown how larger meetings are handled.
Includes text-based scratch-space.
Includes per-participant pointer.
Features
Functionality to consider when considering tool/platform.
- topology
- mesh (P2P)
all processing at end-points, participants limited by bandwidth
- routing (SFU)
light server processing, participants limited by bandwidth
- mixing (MCU)
heavy server processing
- stream source efficiency
- security
- stream forwarding efficiency
- meeting management
- Personalized Meeting rooms
- Scheduled/Meet-me Meetings
- Instant/Direct Meetings
- Presence Support
- Recording
- Text chat
- Screen sharing
- conference stream efficiency
- Skip video streams beyond a threshold of participants
- Skip video streams tied to quiet audio streams
- Skip streams of explicitly tagged non-speaker participants
- conference management
- Conference Recording
- force-mute participants
- "Raise a hand" for muted participants
- meeting room
- Dual stream for dual screen
- Dial in from telephone
- Dial in from SIP audio-only
- Dial in from SIP with video
- Dial in from SIP with SIMPLE text chat
See also
Tools
Janus Gateway
WebRTC SFU/bridge/broker
written in C
Mediasoup
WebRTC SFU
written in C
Kurento
WebRTC MCU
written in C++
drachtio
SIP "SFU"
written in C++
Licode
WebRTC MCU
written in C++
Medooze WebRTC Media Server
WebRTC/SIP MCU
written in C++
SylkServer
SIP "SFU"
written in Python
Spreed WebRTC
WebRTC SFU
written in NodeJS and Go
Jitsi Videobridge
XMPP SFU
written in Java
Jigasi
WebRTC bridge to Jitsi Videobridge
written in Java
Platforms
multiparty-meeting
using Mediasoup
(and optionally drachtio and Kurento)
written in JavaScript
hosted at https://letsmeet.no/
Jangouts
using Janus
written in CoffeeScript
tawk.space
using Janus
written in CoffeeScript
hosted at https://tawk.space/
SIP2SIP
using SylkServer and Janus
hosted at https://sip2sip.info/
and https://webrtc.sipthor.net/
Roll Call
audio-only
hosted at https://roll.call
Spreed.ME
using Spreed WebRTC
Nextcloud Talk
using Spreed WebRTC
Jitsi Meet
using Jigasi and Jitsi Videobridge
hosted at https://meet.jit.si/
Matrix
using Jigasi and Jitsi Videobridge
BigBlueButton
using Kurento
written in Java
mConf
using Kurento
written in Java and Ruby
OpenMeeting
written in Java
Wire
proprietary-protocol Free Software stack
written in Haskell, Rust, C
Talky
cloud SFU service
hosted at https://talky.io/
Me
cloud SFU service
GoToMeeting
cloud SFU service
Zoom Meetings
cloud SFU service
supporting "up to 50 participants at once"
(but client bandwidth and resource demands and stability of such session is unknown)
Hangouts Meet
cloud SFU service
Webex Meetings
cloud SFU service
Skype
cloud SFU service
suporting "up to 25 participants at once"
(but client bandwidth and resource demands and stability of such session is unknown)
MoxieMeet
cloud SFU service
requiring Google account
supporting "up to 32 users all on video together"
(but client bandwidth and resource demands and stability of such session is unknown)
TeamViewer
cloud SFU service
