What it is
OpenVidu is an open-source platform for building real-time video and audio applications. It lives in the TypeScript, WebRTC, and collaboration-software ecosystem, and it is built on LiveKit and mediasoup. The project gives teams a self-hosted base for video conferencing, rooms, chat, and media workflows under an Apache-2.0 license.
The concrete problem it solves is building video conferencing features inside applications with a self-hosted platform. OpenVidu lets developers deploy on their own infrastructure, including AWS, GCP, Azure, Oracle, DigitalOcean, or on-premises systems, while also offering a managed service. It keeps LiveKit API compatibility, so existing LiveKit client and server SDKs can be used unchanged.
Key capabilities
- It provides a platform for real-time video conferencing applications, with room-based media sessions drawn from the project's topics and README.
- It is built on LiveKit and mediasoup, which places it in the WebRTC server stack for audio and video handling.
- It supports recording, RTMP/streaming egress, AI agents for transcription and translation, virtual backgrounds, and other advanced media features named in the README.
- It is API-compatible with LiveKit, so developers can use any LiveKit client or server SDK unchanged.
- It ships with OpenVidu Meet, a fully featured video conferencing application that can be used directly or embedded on top of the platform.
Who uses it and how
- Product teams can use it as the base for video conferencing features inside applications, because the README describes it as a platform for building real-time video conferencing applications.
- Self-hosters can deploy it on AWS, GCP, Azure, Oracle, DigitalOcean, or on-premises infrastructure, which fits organizations that need to run the media platform themselves.
- Teams already using LiveKit can integrate by keeping LiveKit client and server SDK usage unchanged, while adding OpenVidu Meet as a reference app or embeddable product.
Getting started
The README points to documentation, the openvidu-local-deployment repository for local deployment, openvidu-tutorials, and OpenVidu Meet; typical paths include the openvidu/openvidu-server-kms Docker image, the openvidu-browser npm package, self-hosting on cloud or on-premises infrastructure, or using the managed service.
When to use it — and when not to
Use it when a team needs an Apache-2.0, self-hostable video platform with LiveKit API compatibility and OpenVidu Meet as a ready app. Avoid it when a project wants only a fully managed service with no operational responsibility, because self-hosting requires running the platform on chosen infrastructure. The 103 open issues and 10-year repository age are facts to evaluate for maintenance burden and stack fit before adoption.
