This is a frequently asked questions document intended for new Jitsi users. Developers can visit our Github repos for code and details on specific projects. Everyone should go to our Community Forum for questions that are not covered here.
Jitsi is a set of open-source projects that allows you to easily build and deploy secure videoconferencing solutions. We are best known for our Jitsi Meet video conferencing platform, meet.jit.si where we host a Jitsi Meet instance that the community can use for totally free video conferences , and the Jitsi Videobridge that powers all of our multi-party video capabilities.
The easiest way is to go to meet.jit.si or download one of the mobile apps (Android or iOS).
If you prefer, you can also setup your own Jitsi Meet instance or embed a meet.jit.si room into your own website. See the FAQs below for more information on those options.
Yes. Jitsi is 100% open source and freely available to use and develop with. We also host and run meet.jit.si as a free service.
We have a bunch, but the most popular ones are:
- Jitsi Meet – Secure, Simple and Scalable Video Conferences that you use as a standalone app or embed in your web application
- Jitsi Videobridge – the media server engine (aka Selective Forwarding Unit (SFU)) that powers all of Jitsi’s multi-party video conferences
- Jigasi – a gateway service that connects SIP telephony to a Jitsi Videobridge conference
- Jibri – a broadcaster and recorder used for saving video call recordings and streaming to YouTube Live or any RTMP endpoint
You can see all of our projects on our github page – https://github.com/jitsi
Jitsi Meet includes many features and we are constantly adding more. Some of the main ones are:
- Auto-view the active speaker or click on any attendee to see their video
- Android and iOS apps
- Text chatting (web only)
- Lock a room with a password
- Screen sharing (if jidesha is setup, only required in Chrome)
- Streaming a conference to YouTube live (if Jibri is configured)
- Shared text document based on Etherpad
- Raise/Lower your hand for attention
- Participant talk-time statistics
- Push-to-talk mode
- Play a YouTube video to all attendees call
- Audio-only option
- Telephone dial-in to a conference (if Jigasi is setup)
- Dial-out to a telephone participant (if Jigasi is setup)
- Integration in other apps / websites
Jitsi Meet also includes statistics and integrations features and a callstats.io integration to help developers. Make sure to use meet.jit.si to see the latest features.
Yes. The easiest way to record is to live stream your conference to YouTube and access the recording there. You can try this now on meet.jit.si. Self-installed Jitsi Meet deployments will need to setup Jibri to do this.
Yes, Jitsi offers a telephony interface that allows users to dial into a conference or for placing dial-out reminder calls. You can try this on meet.jit.si. Self-installed Jitsi Meet deployments will need to setup and configure Jigasi with a SIP provider to connect to the phone network.
We are fortunate that our friends at 8×8 fully fund the project. 8×8 uses Jitsi technology in products like Virtual Office. The open source community and meet.jit.si service help to make Jitsi better, which makes 8×8 products better, which helps to further fund Jitsi. This virtuous cycle has worked well in the past and should continue to for many years to come.
Setting up Jitsi Meet is a simple experience for those that are familiar with Unix installations. Please check our self-hosting documentation.
Yes, Jitsi Meet has an External API that can be used to embed an existing Jits Meet instance into any webpage with just a few lines of code. Many of Meet’s options can be changed via configuration file. Web developers can even actively control the conference with a variety of commands and events. You can do this with your own self-installed instance or run it from meet.jit.si – no server installation required. See here for more on the Jitsi Meet External API.
Neither the immediate Jitsi team or 8×8 provide commercial support for Jitsi. Jitsi does enjoy a large developer community with many development shops and individuals that provide support and commercial development services. If you need paid help, we recommend you do a search or post a request on our Community Forum in the paid-word category: https://community.jitsi.org/c/users/paid-work
Jitsi Desktop, formerly known as the SIP Communicator and briefly known as just “Jitsi”, is a VoIP and instant messaging application. This was the Jitsi team’s first project that originated way back in 2003.
Jitsi’s video conferencing capabilities evolved out of this original project. Jitsi Desktop is no longer actively maintained by the Jitsi team under 8×8; but it is still maintained, by the community.
The Jitsi Community Forum is best place to go for all kinds of discussion on Jitsi projects.
