Jitsi — video conferencing service

• Official website
• Full documentation
• Source code
• Support

Jitsi is an open-source video conferencing tool which is often used alongside Matrix.

Jitsi image source: the Jitsi organization on Github.

Who is it for?¶

On Matrix:

• 1-on-1 audio/video calls use WebRTC directly (assisted by a TURN server) and do not use Jitsi
• group calls use Jitsi and sometimes the new Element Call service (depending on the client application)

If you don’t have your own Jitsi instance, the public Jitsi instance will be used by default. As such, you do not necessarily need your own Jitsi instance.

For additional privacy, you can enable the Jitsi component and your Matrix server will be reconfigured to use it.

Jitsi can also be used standalone, without Matrix. If you wish to have an audio/video conferencing tool installed on your server, that may be another point in favor of installing it.

Please keep in mind that Jitsi is heavy on server resources (in terms of CPU, RAM, and network bandwidth). Jitsi itself is developed focusing on scalability, but since our service is mainly oriented for small-scale deployment, our Jitsi installation is unfortunately not optimized for high availability. If you need a solution for videoconferences with hundreds (or even thousands) of participants, we may not be the best choice for hosting your Jitsi instance.

Usage¶

We host your Jitsi instance at a URL like: https://jitsi.your-server.com.

The Jitsi instance can be used in multiple ways:

• by adding a widget to a room via Element Web. Just start a voice or a video call in a room containing more than 2 members and that would create a Jitsi widget which utilizes your Jitsi server.
• directly (without any Matrix integration). Just go to https://jitsi.your-server.com, and you can start a videoconference.

Check the official user guide for details about how to use Jitsi.

Authentication¶

⚠️ By default the Jitsi Meet instance does not require for anyone to log in, and is open to use without an account. This makes it easy to start a videoconference as authentication is not required, but there is a risk of potential abuse by a third party.

If you would like to control who is allowed to start meetings on your instance, we can enable Jitsi’s authentication and optionally guests mode for you.

While there are several authentication methods, only Jitsi’s internal authentication is supported at etke.cc. This authentication method uses a list of usernames and password pairs. With authentication enabled, all meetings have to be started by a registered user. After the meeting is started by that user, then guests are free to join. If the registered user is not yet present, they are put on hold in individual waiting rooms.

To have Jitsi internal authentication enabled for your Jitsi server, contact us and send over the usernames and passwords that you would like to have access to your Jitsi instance.