Florian LoretanandGitHub
7818dd21b9
* fix: bound data-track buffering under downlink congestion The SFU data-track down-channel writer was constructed with targetLatency=0, which disables the buffered-amount/latency-based drop in writeUnreliable. Under subscriber downlink congestion, frames were queued unbounded and in order in the per-subscriber SCTP send buffer instead of being dropped, so end-to-end latency grew without limit and only drained once congestion cleared. This contradicts data tracks being a low-latency, lossy transport. Wire a dedicated `datachannel_data_track_target_latency` config through to both data-track writer call sites (mirroring how `datachannel_lossy_target_latency` controls the lossy publishData channel), reusing lossyDataChannelMinBufferedAmount as the drop floor. Defaults to 100ms so data tracks are latency-bounded out of the box; set to 0 to restore the previous unbounded behavior. Fixes #4666 * fix: track drained bytes on successful unreliable data channel writes writeUnreliable only called BitrateCalculator.AddBytes when a write failed, so on the common success path the calculator never received samples. As a result Bitrate() had no data and the latency-based drop threshold collapsed to the static minBufferedAmount floor, making the per-subscriber latency control (datachannel_lossy_target_latency and the new datachannel_data_track_target_latency) effectively inert. Call AddBytes after every write, matching writeReliable.
LiveKit: Real-time video, audio and data for developers
LiveKit is an open source project that provides scalable, multi-user conferencing based on WebRTC. It's designed to provide everything you need to build real-time video audio data capabilities in your applications.
LiveKit's server is written in Go, using the awesome Pion WebRTC implementation.
Features
- Scalable, distributed WebRTC SFU (Selective Forwarding Unit)
- Modern, full-featured client SDKs
- Built for production, supports JWT authentication
- Robust networking and connectivity, UDP/TCP/TURN
- Easy to deploy: single binary, Docker or Kubernetes
- Advanced features including:
- speaker detection
- simulcast
- end-to-end optimizations
- selective subscription
- moderation APIs
- end-to-end encryption
- SVC codecs (VP9, AV1)
- webhooks
- distributed and multi-region
Documentation & Guides
Live Demos
- LiveKit Meet (source)
- Spatial Audio (source)
- Livestreaming from OBS Studio (source)
- AI voice assistant using ChatGPT (source)
Ecosystem
- Agents: build real-time multimodal AI applications with programmable backend participants
- Egress: record or multi-stream rooms and export individual tracks
- Ingress: ingest streams from external sources like RTMP, WHIP, HLS, or OBS Studio
SDKs & Tools
Client SDKs
Client SDKs enable your frontend to include interactive, multi-user experiences.
| Language | Repo | Declarative UI | Links |
|---|---|---|---|
| JavaScript (TypeScript) | client-sdk-js | React | docs | JS example | React example |
| Swift (iOS / MacOS) | client-sdk-swift | Swift UI | docs | example |
| Kotlin (Android) | client-sdk-android | Compose | docs | example | Compose example |
| Flutter (all platforms) | client-sdk-flutter | native | docs | example |
| Unity WebGL | client-sdk-unity-web | docs | |
| React Native (beta) | client-sdk-react-native | native | |
| Rust | client-sdk-rust |
Server SDKs
Server SDKs enable your backend to generate access tokens, call server APIs, and receive webhooks. In addition, the Go SDK includes client capabilities, enabling you to build automations that behave like end-users.
| Language | Repo | Docs |
|---|---|---|
| Go | server-sdk-go | docs |
| JavaScript (TypeScript) | server-sdk-js | docs |
| Ruby | server-sdk-ruby | |
| Java (Kotlin) | server-sdk-kotlin | |
| Python (community) | python-sdks | |
| PHP (community) | agence104/livekit-server-sdk-php |
Tools
- CLI - command line interface & load tester
- Docker image
- Helm charts
Install
Tip
We recommend installing LiveKit CLI along with the server. It lets you access server APIs, create tokens, and generate test traffic.
The following will install LiveKit's media server:
MacOS
brew install livekit
Linux
curl -sSL https://get.livekit.io | bash
Windows
Download the latest release here
Getting Started
Starting LiveKit
Start LiveKit in development mode by running livekit-server --dev. It'll use a placeholder API key/secret pair.
API Key: devkey
API Secret: secret
To customize your setup for production, refer to our deployment docs
Creating access token
A user connecting to a LiveKit room requires an access token. Access tokens (JWT) encode the user's identity and the room permissions they've been granted. You can generate a token with our CLI:
lk token create \
--api-key devkey --api-secret secret \
--join --room my-first-room --identity user1 \
--valid-for 24h
Test with example app
Head over to our example app and enter a generated token to connect to your LiveKit server. This app is built with our React SDK.
Once connected, your video and audio are now being published to your new LiveKit instance!
Simulating a test publisher
lk room join \
--url ws://localhost:7880 \
--api-key devkey --api-secret secret \
--identity bot-user1 \
--publish-demo \
my-first-room
This command publishes a looped demo video to a room. Due to how the video clip was encoded (keyframes every 3s), there's a slight delay before the browser has sufficient data to begin rendering frames. This is an artifact of the simulation.
Deployment
Use LiveKit Cloud
LiveKit Cloud is the fastest and most reliable way to run LiveKit. Every project gets free monthly bandwidth and transcoding credits.
Sign up for LiveKit Cloud.
Self-host
Read our deployment docs for more information.
Building from source
Pre-requisites:
- Go 1.23+ is installed
- GOPATH/bin is in your PATH
Then run
git clone https://github.com/livekit/livekit
cd livekit
./bootstrap.sh
mage
Contributing
We welcome your contributions toward improving LiveKit! Please join us on Slack to discuss your ideas and/or PRs.
License
LiveKit server is licensed under Apache License v2.0.
| LiveKit Ecosystem | |
|---|---|
| Agents SDKs | Python · Node.js |
| LiveKit SDKs | Browser · Swift · Android · Flutter · React Native · Rust · Node.js · Python · Unity · Unity (WebGL) · ESP32 · C++ |
| Starter Apps | Python Agent · TypeScript Agent · React App · SwiftUI App · Android App · Flutter App · React Native App · Web Embed |
| UI Components | React · Android Compose · SwiftUI · Flutter |
| Server APIs | Node.js · Golang · Ruby · Java/Kotlin · Python · Rust · PHP (community) · .NET (community) |
| Resources | Docs · Docs MCP Server · CLI · LiveKit Cloud |
| LiveKit Server OSS | LiveKit server · Egress · Ingress · SIP |
| Community | Developer Community · Slack · X · YouTube |