Could Someone Give me Advice on Optimizing Jami for Group Video Calls?

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Hello there,

I am new to Jami and have been exploring its features for both personal and professional use. I am particularly interested in using it for group video calls and would appreciate some advice on how to optimize it for the best experience.

What are the best practices for ensuring smooth and high quality video calls on Jami? Are there specific settings I should adjust or hardware requirements I should be aware of? :thinking:

What is the maximum number of participants Jami can handle in a video call without significant lag or quality degradation? Has anyone tested this in a real world scenario? :thinking:

Are there any network configurations or bandwidth requirements that can help improve call stability and quality? For instance; does Jami work better on a wired connection versus Wi-Fi; or are there specific ports that need to be open? :thinking:

What are some common issues users encounter during group video calls and how can they be resolved? I am particularly interested in solutions for echo cancellation and video synchronization problems.

Does Jami perform differently on various operating systems or devices? I plan to use it across Windows; macOS; and Android devices; and I would like to know if there are any platform specific considerations to keep in mind.

Also, I have gone through this post: https://forum.jami.net/t/connection-only-sometimes-working-usually-very-bad-ccsp/ which definitely helped me out a lot.

I have looked through the documentation and some older threads but could not find detailed answers to these questions.

Thanks in advance for your help and assistance. :innocent:

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I may be wrong, but from what I understand, a swarm call is hosted by the first device that started the call. And that device is going to encode the streams for all the participants. Imagine the quality when you initiated a swarm call from an Android phone…

When the host device is leaving the call, there’s a popup suggesting to host the call. I don’t know the rule for the device where the popup shows (Is the the second device in the call?) The swarm protocol does not seem to balance the streams over the most powerful device on the call.

I must admit that swarms are a bit mysterious to me after trying to use them in small and large groups and I’m not sure they optimize P2P.

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Only desktop client can set default host?

default_host-fs8
default_host-fs8991Ă—603 21.2 KB

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And only the administrator

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Ce qui explique également les échecs répétés pour les visio de l’essaim Jami Entraide Utilisateur (depuis 3 ans) dont aucun des membres ne dispose d’un appareil suffisamment puissant pour gérer les flux…

Par contre nous ne comprenons pas le refus des membres SFL de cet essaim qui disposent sûrement d’un matériel performant, d’être choisie comme hôte pour Jami Entraide Utilisateur ?

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https://docs.jami.net/en_US/user/faq.html#how-much-bandwidth-do-i-need-for-calls

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I noticed switching everyone to audio-only first helps get the group stable, then add video one by one. Also disabling extra devices’ cameras and mics reduced lag for us.

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Great to see someone diving deep into its features - especially for group video calls. You’re asking all the right questions, and I’ll try to cover as much as I can based on what users have shared and what works best in real-world use.

:white_check_mark: For smooth and high-quality calls, wired connections almost always beat Wi-Fi, especially with group calls. Jami is peer-to-peer, so the stability of each participant’s connection really matters. If someone has a shaky connection, it can affect the whole group’s experience.

:wrench: Best settings: In Jami’s settings, make sure video resolution is balanced with your bandwidth (720p is a sweet spot). Also, enable echo cancellation and noise reduction—these help a ton, especially when people don’t use headsets.

:busts_in_silhouette: Participant limits: There’s no hard cap, but in practice, once you get past 5–6 participants, the quality may drop unless everyone has strong connections and decent hardware. Peer-to-peer systems scale differently than centralized ones, so it really depends on your group’s setup.

:globe_with_meridians: Network tips: Yes, Jami performs best with open ports (default is UDP 4000), and if you’re behind NAT or firewalls, enabling UPnP or manually port-forwarding can help. Wired > Wi-Fi every time if you can swing it.

:hammer_and_wrench: Common issues: Echo usually happens when someone isn’t using headphones—so that’s tip #1. Sync issues sometimes pop up if devices have very different performance levels or unstable connections. Encouraging participants to close background apps helps too.

:mobile_phone: Platform differences: Generally, Jami is stable across OSes, but Windows and macOS versions tend to get updates a bit faster than Android. Android performance can vary more depending on the device’s hardware.

And if you’re thinking about improving your setup down the road, definitely check out this article on the best video conferencing equipment for 2025: https://www.insta360.com/blog/tips/video-conferencing-equipment.html - good insights there, especially if you’re using Jami for pro-level meetings.