SFU vs MCU

SFU forwards streams; clients render mix locally. MCU mixes centrally. SFU wins on latency + flexibility. Everyone uses SFU now.

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SFU vs MCU

SFU forwards streams; clients render mix locally. MCU mixes centrally. SFU wins on latency + flexibility. Everyone uses SFU now.

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Cascading for global calls

Participants across continents → SFU in each region, connected via cascade. Reduces cross-continent hops per client.

Adaptive bitrate

Each stream sent at multiple qualities. Client requests quality based on bandwidth + visible tiles.

Zoom's custom transport

UDP-based, custom retransmission. TCP fallback for firewalled clients. Optimized for jitter + packet loss.

Backups + recording

Recording spawns async server that consumes streams from SFU. Doesn't add latency to participants. Uploaded to cloud when meeting ends.