Best Top 5 Webrtc Video Conference Open Source Solutions
As we stepped into the pandemic chaos, our work culture changed, and Work from home became the new normal. With the increase in Work from the home workforce, demand for video conferencing tools also increased, and many applications saw a decent rise in popularity. In this article, we will look into the top 5 webrtc video conference open source solutions.
What is Webrtc Video Conference?
Before we begin with our list of top 5 Webrtc Video Conference open source solutions, let us try to understand the topic of Webrtc.
Webrtc stands for real-time web communication and is an open-source project that allows real-time communication(video and audio) on the web browser and mobile application via APIs. This means that you can easily communicate on any webpage through peer to peer communication.
1. Jitsi Meet
The first in our list of top 5 solutions is Jitsi meet. It was one of the first open-source video conferencing solutions released in the market in 2003. It is open-source, which means you can contribute to its source code or even customize its source code as per your requirement. The Jitsi team has open-sourced its code on Github. You can also install Jitsi Meet on Azure, AWS or GCP using our image on the cloud marketplaces.
Jitsi Features
Here are some of the main features of Jitsi meet:
- An active speaker and attendee view are available, which means you can see the video of the speaker and the attendees.
- Available on Android and iOS playstore
- Web-based Text chatting.
- Admin can easily lock the conference room with a password
- Screensharing feature (for chrome Jidesha setup required)
- Feature of streaming live video on YouTube if Jibri is installed
- Provides sharing of text document based on Etherpad
- Raise/Lower hand
- Provides attendees talk-time statistics
- Push-to-talk
- YouTube videos can be played and shared with all the attendees.
- Feature include audio-only conference as well.
- If Jigasi is set up, then it offers dial-in/out from a meeting and vice-versa.
- Offers integration with other apps and websites.
Cons
Here are some cons of Jitsi:
- Meetings are not fully encrypted
- Large storage space required to store the recordings and meetings
- Audio and video quality drops if attendees are more than 75. The maximum limit is 200 attendees
2. Google Hangout
A very popular product from the house of Google is Google Hangouts. It is freely available along with Gmail, so you can freely use this product if you have a Gmail account. It makes heavy use of Webrtc. Its simple and user-friendly interface makes it a popular application amongst everyone. Its source code can be found on Github.
Google Hangout Features
The main features of google hangout are:
- IM
- VOIP
- Video Calls in HD
- Group Video Conferencing in HD
- Auto Screen Focus
- Intelligent Muting
- Compatibility with various devices
- Built-in screen sharing
- Hangout on Air
- Integration with all the Google applications
- Custom Control for Admins
- Integration with third-party applications such as slack
- Available on all mobile platforms and devices via google playstore and iOS store
- Supported OS – MS-OS, macOS, Linux
Cons
There are few cons of Google Hangout which can be ignored. Here are the cons :
- The user cannot verify whether another user has read the message or not.
- Google account is required to use google hangout. But this cannot be considered a cons because the Gmail account is free, and a new account can be created easily.
3.BigBlueButton
The third application on our list is BigBlueButton. This application has been designed for the Educational market and primarily focuses on the needs of facilitators, faculties and students. Thereby making this app one of the most popular amongst the students, teachers and the institutes. Do make sure to check its source code by visiting GitHub.
BigBlueButton Features
BigBlueButton has the following essential features:
- Its open Source
- Offers to record the entire session
- Files can be easily Shared
- The screen can be shared easily
- Supports WebRTC
- Third-party Software integration support
- Supports HD Audio
- Highly Secure
- Provides multi-user Whiteboard
- Offers Real-time Chats
- Emojis are supported
- Feature of polling supported
Cons
Here are some of the cons of BigBlueButton:
- Installation can be overwhelming
- Handling several conferences requires a high capacity server.
- Not much customizable.
- Reports of conference recording failing randomly are frequent.
- Doesn’t handle high traffic efficiently.
4. OpenVidu
OpenVidu is the fourth in our list of webrtc based open source video conferencing solutions. The open-source product is the OpenVidu-CE or community edition, while two more editions, Pro and Enterprise, are licensed. It is compatible with diverse frontend technologies such as javascript, vue, angular etc. Its source code can be found on Github.
OpenVidu Features
Here are the few features offered by OpenVidu-CE. Note that for more features, you have to purchase Pro or Enterprise edition.
- Supports WebRTC media streams
- Supports session recording
- Screen sharing support
- Provides audio and video filters
- IP cameras features
- Supported Clients: JS, Angular, React, Vue.js, Ionic, Electron
- On-premise deployment support
- Cloud deployment support
Cons
There are not many cons that can be discussed about Openvidu. Here are few cons:
- It is not horizontally scalable.
- Audio issues when a third person joins a conference already in session and can’t hear two people speaking
- Audio feedback starts and cannot the element created for the publisher cannot be muted (behaviour observed in chrome)
5.Wire
The last application on our list is Wire. Wire offers a complete solution for secure conferencing, file sharing and other tasks with highly secure end-to-end encryption. The wire solution has been written in TypeScript, Javascript, CSS, and HTML. You can check out its source code on Github along with its documentation.
Wire Features
Here are some of the most remarkable features offered by Wire:
- Provides end-to-end encryption
- one to one and group messaging support
- Voice call support
- Video conference support
- Screen-sharing support
- File-sharing support
- Old conversations can be searched
- Guest Rooms features
- Advanced team management feature
- iOS, Android & Desktop application supported
- Available on mobile, web and desktop
- Real-time syncing across all the devices.
Cons
Here are some cons of wire messaging solutions:
- Calls frequently drop
- Low picture quality
- No support for archiving the entire group message
- Saving video and images can be complicated.
This concludes our blog post. We’ve provided a list of the more popular free and open-source video conferencing software in this article. Business and personal use cases consider several different aspects when selecting an excellent open-source video conferencing software. Video collaboration tools with advanced features are readily available to the open-source community. With high definition and high quality, they offer video and audio. There are no restrictions on the number of users to whom you can invite. All channels of communication are encrypted. It can be configured, optimised, scalable, and extensible. These software applications are not only business applications; the home or personal individuals can also use them. But, this article may be able to assist you in making the correct decision. You have finally been able to identify a video-conferencing application that meets the requirements of your company.
