If you've been a working adult for more than a decade, you probably remember the high cost and complexity of doing audio- and video conferences. Conference calls were arranged through third-party vendors, and video conferences required dedicated rooms with expensive equipment at every endpoint.
That all started changing by the mid-2000s, as webcams became mainstream computer equipment and Skype and related services hit the market. The cost and complexity of video conferencing decreased rapidly, as nearly anyone with a webcam, a speedy internet connection, and inexpensive software could communicate with colleagues, friends, family members, even complete strangers, right from their home or office PC. Nowadays, your smartphone's video camera puts web conferencing in the palm of your hand anywhere you have a robust cellular or WiFi connection and the right software. But most of that software is proprietary.
Fortunately, there are a handful of powerful open source video-conferencing solutions that can replicate the features of Skype and similar applications. In this roundup, we've focused on applications that can accommodate multiple participants across various locations, although we do offer a couple of 1:1 communications solutions at the end that may meet your needs.
Jitsi
Jitsi[1]'s web conferencing solution stands out for its extreme ease of use: It runs directly in the browser with no download necessary. To set up a video-conferencing session, you just point your browser to Jitsi Meet[2], enter a username (or select the random one that's offered), and click Go. Once you give Jitsi permission to use your webcam and microphone (sessions are DTLS[3]/SRTP[4]-encrypted), it generates a web link and a dial-in number others can use to join your session, and you can even add a conference password for