Linux Business & Productivity

Jitsi: more secure communication


The desktop application is much more robust and customizable, and you can still communicate with anyone using a web browser (who has a microphone and/or camera, of course).


A lot of strong competition in the market.

Jitsi is a program that lets you chat, make video calls, and share your desktop and several related function, using different protocols and offering encryption by default. Above all, security and privacy are paramount.

What is Jitsi?

Jitsi is based on SIP Communicator, a similar program which had its heyday a few years ago. The name change to Jitsi came to fruition since the program is no longer only compatible with the SIP protocol, but also with MSNP (which uses MSN), OSCAR (ICQ and AIM), XMPP/Jingle (Google Talk and Facebook Chat), and YMSG ( Yahoo! Messenger).

Jitsi also uses several methods in addition to SIP encryption, such as RTP, SRTP and ZRTP. This video calling program is continually growing and improving, with support for a number of formats and the latest security protocols.

Jitsi without Jitsi

Clearly, Jitsi has a notoriously difficult challenge: having to compete in a polarized market, where Skype and Hangouts share the biggest slice of the pie. The good thing is that you don’t actually have to install the client to run Jitsu, you can head instead to its web version, create a chat room with a random name, password protect it, and share it with your friends.

If you do install it on your computer though, Jitsi is much more customizable and secure, whilst still allowing you access to your chat contacts from other services (Facebook and Google Talk).


Jitsi is a program that allows video-conferencing and chat with others, via an encrypted connection (by default).


Video conferencing and chat
Based on SIP Communicator
Encryption using SIP, RTP, SRTP and ZRTP
It supports multiple protocols
Allows desktop sharing
Version for web browsers