matrix-spec/content/client-server-api/modules/voip_events.md

Voice over IP

This module outlines how two users in a room can set up a Voice over IP (VoIP) call to each other. Voice and video calls are built upon the WebRTC 1.0 standard. Call signalling is achieved by sending message events to the room. In this version of the spec, only two-party communication is supported (e.g. between two peers, or between a peer and a multi-point conferencing unit). This means that clients MUST only send call events to rooms with exactly two participants.

All VoIP events have a version field. This will be used to determine whether devices support this new version of the protocol. For example, clients can use this field to know whether to expect an m.call.select_answer event from their opponent. If clients see events with version other than 0 or "1" (including, for example, the numeric value 1), they should treat these the same as if they had version == "1".

Note that this implies any and all future versions of VoIP events should be backwards-compatible. If it does become necessary to introduce a non backwards-compatible VoIP spec, the intention would be for it to simply use a separate set of event types.

Events

{{% event-group group_name="m.call" %}}

Client behaviour

A call is set up with message events exchanged as follows:

    Caller                    Callee
    [Place Call]
    m.call.invite ----------->
    m.call.candidate -------->
    [..candidates..] -------->
                            [Answers call]
           <--------------- m.call.answer
     [Call is active and ongoing]
           <--------------- m.call.hangup

Or a rejected call:

    Caller                      Callee
    m.call.invite ------------>
    m.call.candidate --------->
    [..candidates..] --------->
                             [Rejects call]
             <-------------- m.call.hangup

Calls are negotiated according to the WebRTC specification.

Streams

Clients are expected to send one stream with one track of kind audio (creating a voice call). They can optionally send a second track in the same stream of kind video (creating a video call).

Clients implementing this specification use the first stream and will ignore any streamless tracks. Note that in the Javascript WebRTC API, this means addTrack() must be passed two parameters: a track and a stream, not just a track, and in a video call the stream must be the same for both audio and video track.

A client may send other streams and tracks but the behaviour of the other party with respect to presenting such streams and tracks is undefined.

Invitees

The invitee field should be added whenever the call is intended for one specific user , and should be set to the Matrix user ID of that user. Invites without an invitee field are defined to be intended for any member of the room other than the sender of the event.

Clients should consider an incoming call if they see a non-expired invite event where the invitee field is either absent or equal to their user's Matrix ID, however they should evaluate whether or not to ring based on their user's trust relationship with the callers and/or where the call was placed. As a starting point, it is suggested that clients ignore call invites from users in public rooms. It is strongly recommended that when clients do not ring for an incoming call invite, they still display the call invite in the room and annotate that it was ignored.

Glare

"Glare" is a problem which occurs when two users call each other at roughly the same time. This results in the call failing to set up as there already is an incoming/outgoing call. A glare resolution algorithm can be used to determine which call to hangup and which call to answer. If both clients implement the same algorithm then they will both select the same call and the call will be successfully connected.

As calls are "placed" to rooms rather than users, the glare resolution algorithm outlined below is only considered for calls which are to the same room. The algorithm is as follows:

• If an m.call.invite to a room is received whilst the client is preparing to send an m.call.invite to the same room:
  • the client should cancel its outgoing call and instead automatically accept the incoming call on behalf of the user.
• If an m.call.invite to a room is received after the client has sent an m.call.invite to the same room and is waiting for a response:
  • the client should perform a lexicographical comparison of the call IDs of the two calls and use the lesser of the two calls, aborting the greater. If the incoming call is the lesser, the client should accept this call on behalf of the user.

The call setup should appear seamless to the user as if they had simply placed a call and the other party had accepted. This means any media stream that had been setup for use on a call should be transferred and used for the call that replaces it.

Server behaviour

The homeserver MAY provide a TURN server which clients can use to contact the remote party. The following HTTP API endpoints will be used by clients in order to get information about the TURN server.

{{% http-api spec="client-server" api="voip" %}}

Security considerations

Calls should only be placed to rooms with one other user in them. If they are placed to group chat rooms it is possible that another user will intercept and answer the call.