Licode is an SFU/MCU?

1

Hi @pedro

I have read your previous comments, and you have said Licode is SFU / MCU. But I’m wondering when it can run under the SFU model and when it runs the MCU model?

Can you explain this to me? I’m really confused about this.

Thanks,

2

@Alvaro_Alonso said that: By default, Licode acts as SFU, getting the streams from publishers and forwarding them to the subscribers. But it also supports MCU functionalities such us recording, external output streaming, etc.

So if video call has 5 users that 4 users run Model SFU, can the last user receive stream from others through model MCU (just 1 stream)? If yes, can you guide me how to do it?

3

If by MCU Model you mean video and/or audio mixing, then the answer is never. Licode does not implement mixing.

For almost all purposes, Licode is an SFU. It does have some transcoding capabilities for importing and exporting streams from files or RTSP.

SFU is a relatively modern term that emphasizes that the central agent won’t transcode or mix the streams but MCU does not immediately imply transcoding and/or mixing. (See https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc7667) So the lines get a little bit blurry as SFUs/MCUs implement more functionality.