OpenVidu configuration

This page lists all available configuration properties for OpenVidu Server, as well as their possible values and the default ones.
These properties may be set:

  • In any official production deployment of OpenVidu CE or OpenVidu Pro: in the .env config file at OpenVidu installation path, default to /opt/openvidu
  • In the official development OpenVidu docker container: passing them as environment variables with flag -e PROPERTY=value

Configuration parameters for OpenVidu CE 🔗

These configuration parameters apply to OpenVidu CE, OpenVidu Pro and OpenVidu Enterprise.

Parameter Description Default value
DOMAIN_OR_PUBLIC_IP Domain name where OpenVidu Server will be reachable. If you do not have one, the public IP address of the machine. Clients will use this to connect to OpenVidu Server. For example:
  • openvidu.example.com
  • 192.0.2.2
OPENVIDU_SECRET Secret used to connect to OpenVidu Server. This value is required when using the REST API or any server client (openvidu-java-client, openvidu-node-client), as well as when connecting to openvidu-server dashboard. Can only contain alphanumeric characters, hyphens and underscores (matching regex [a-zA-Z0-9_-]+).
CERTIFICATE_TYPE Which type of certificate you want to use in your OpenVidu deployment:
  • selfsigned
  • owncert
  • letsencrypt
 selfsigned
HTTPS_PORT Secure port where OpenVidu Server will listen for connections. All of OpenVidu services will be reachable at this port. Any client or SDK will have to connect to OpenVidu at this port. 443
HTTP_PORT Insecure port from which OpenVidu will automatically redirect any request to the secure port.
For example, with
HTTP_PORT=80 and HTTPS_PORT=443
a request to
http://DOMAIN_OR_PUBLIC_IP/
will be automatically redirected to
https://DOMAIN_OR_PUBLIC_IP/
WARNING: if you have set CERTIFICATE_TYPE=letsencrypt, you cannot change the default value 80, as Let's Encrypt needs this port opened to generate your certificate. This applies at least for the first time you execute OpenVidu, when your certificate is generated. You should be able to change this value later, once Let's Encrypt has successfully run for the first time.		 80
OPENVIDU_CDR Whether to enable Call Detail Record or not. false
OPENVIDU_CDR_PATH System path where to write CDR files /opt/openvidu/cdr
OPENVIDU_RECORDING Whether to enable the Recording module or not. false
OPENVIDU_RECORDING_PATH System path where to store the video files of recorded sessions. /opt/openvidu/recordings
OPENVIDU_RECORDING_PUBLIC_ACCESS Whether to allow free HTTP access to recorded sessions or not.
  • If true, OPENVIDU_RECORDING_PATH will be publicly reachable at /recordings/, so any client can connect to
    https://DOMAIN_OR_PUBLIC_IP/openvidu/recordings/RECORDING_ID/RECORDING_NAME.EXTENSION
    and reach the recorded files.
  • If false, this path will be secured with Basic Auth the same way that REST API is
    ("OPENVIDUAPP:OPENVIDU_SECRET")
For example, for an OpenVidu Server configured with
  • DOMAIN_OR_PUBLIC_IP=example.com
  • OPENVIDU_RECORDING=true
  • OPENVIDU_RECORDING_PATH=/my/path
  • OPENVIDU_RECORDING_PUBLIC_ACCESS=true
a session with ID foo that has been recorded may generate a video file locally stored in the host machine under /my/path/foo/foo.mp4 and reachable by any client connecting to
https://example.com/openvidu/recordings/foo/foo.mp4		 false
OPENVIDU_RECORDING_NOTIFICATION Which users should receive the recording events (recordingStarted, recordingStopped) in the client side:
  • all: Every user connected to the session.
  • publisher_moderator: Users with role PUBLISHER or MODERATOR.
  • moderator: Only users with role MODERATOR.
  • none: No user will receive these events.
 publisher_moderator
OPENVIDU_RECORDING_CUSTOM_LAYOUT System path where OpenVidu Server should look for custom recording layouts. /opt/openvidu/custom-layout
OPENVIDU_RECORDING_AUTOSTOP_TIMEOUT Timeout in seconds for recordings to automatically stop (and the session involved to be closed) when conditions are met. See Automatic stop of recordings to learn more. 120
OPENVIDU_RECORDING_COMPOSED_URL Overrides the default URL that the recording module will use to connect to the session being recorded. This only affects COMPOSED recordings with video.
By default, the URL is built with DOMAIN_OR_PUBLIC_IP and HTTPS_PORT, so in certain cases where the host does not allow hairpinning (connecting to itself using its own public domain), this can be a solution.
For example, for OpenVidu CE using https://PRIVATE_IP/dashboard or OpenVidu PRO using https://PRIVATE_IP/inspector (where PRIVATE_IP is the internal IP of the Master Node), this setting may allow COMPOSED recording to work fine with default or custom layouts hosted in the same machine without accessing the Internet.
OPENVIDU_RECORDING_DEBUG Enable debug mode for recording. Affects COMPOSED and COMPOSED_QUICK_START recording output modes. Generates log files with the recording process details inside this particular recording folder (a folder with the recording identifier inside OPENVIDU_RECORDING_PATH). false
OPENVIDU_WEBHOOK Whether to enable the OpenVidu Webhook service or not. false
OPENVIDU_WEBHOOK_ENDPOINT HTTP endpoint where OpenVidu Server will send the POST messages with Webhook events.
OPENVIDU_WEBHOOK_HEADERS Array of strings with the HTTP headers that OpenVidu Server will append to each POST message of Webhook events.
For example, you may configure a Basic Auth header, setting this property to [\"Authorization:\ Basic\ bmFtZTpwYXNz\"]		 [ ]
OPENVIDU_WEBHOOK_EVENTS Array of strings with the type of events you want OpenVidu Server to send to your Webhook.
["sessionCreated",
"sessionDestroyed",
"participantJoined",
"participantLeft",
"webrtcConnectionCreated",
"webrtcConnectionDestroyed",
"recordingStatusChanged",
"filterEventDispatched",
"signalSent",
"nodeCrashed",
"mediaNodeStatusChanged",
"autoscaling"]
(All available events)
OPENVIDU_STREAMS_VIDEO_MAX_RECV_BANDWIDTH Maximum video bandwidth sent from clients to OpenVidu Server, in kbps. 0 means unconstrained. 1000
OPENVIDU_STREAMS_VIDEO_MIN_RECV_BANDWIDTH Minimum video bandwidth sent from clients to OpenVidu Server, in kbps. 0 means unconstrained. 300
OPENVIDU_STREAMS_VIDEO_MAX_SEND_BANDWIDTH Maximum video bandwidth sent from OpenVidu Server to clients, in kbps. 0 means unconstrained. 1000
OPENVIDU_STREAMS_VIDEO_MIN_SEND_BANDWIDTH Minimum video bandwidth sent from OpenVidu Server to clients, in kbps. 0 means unconstrained. 300
OPENVIDU_STREAMS_FORCED_VIDEO_CODEC Enforce a specific video codec to be used by all clients, to avoid compatibility issues:
  • MEDIA_SERVER_PREFERRED
    A recommended choice is done for you
  • NONE
    Let each client use their preferred codec
  • VP8
  • VP9
  • H264
More details.		 MEDIA_SERVER_PREFERRED
OPENVIDU_STREAMS_ALLOW_TRANSCODING Allow the media server to perform live transcoding of video streams, ensuring that all codecs match in the session (Kurento only).
More details.		 false
OPENVIDU_SESSIONS_GARBAGE_INTERVAL How often the garbage collector of non active sessions runs. This helps cleaning up Sessions that have been initialized through REST API, and maybe have had Connections created, but have had no final users connected (no Connection of the Session entered active status). Default to 900s (15 mins). 0 to disable the non active sessions garbage collector. 900
OPENVIDU_SESSIONS_GARBAGE_THRESHOLD Minimum time in seconds that a non active session must have been in existence for the garbage collector of non active sessions to remove it. Default to 3600s (1 hour). If non active sessions garbage collector is disabled (property OPENVIDU_SESSIONS_GARBAGE_INTERVAL is set to 0) this property is ignored. 3600
OPENVIDU_WEBRTC_ICE_SERVERS Array of ICE servers to use instead of default Coturn at browser/clients side (comma-separated list of ICE Servers). Examples:
  • ["url=turns:example.turn.com:443,staticAuthSecret=secret"]
  • ["url=turns:example.turn.com:443,username=usertest,credential=userpass"]
More Details		 [ ]


Configuration parameters for OpenVidu Pro 🔗

These configuration parameters apply to OpenVidu Pro and OpenVidu Enterprise.

Parameter Description Default value
OPENVIDU_PRO_LICENSE License key of your OpenVidu Pro account. This parameter is mandatory to launch OpenVidu Pro clusters.
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OPENVIDU_EDITION OpenVidu Edition to run. Possible values are: pro
OPENVIDU_PRO_CLUSTER_ID Unique identifier of your cluster. Each OpenVidu Server Pro instance corresponds to one cluster. You can launch as many clusters as you want with your license key. The cluster ID will always be stored to disk so restarting OpenVidu Server Pro will keep the same previous cluster ID if this configuration parameter is not given a distinct value. A random string
OPENVIDU_PRO_CLUSTER_MEDIA_NODES The desired number of Media Nodes on startup. If there are too many existing Media Nodes on startup, they will be automatically dropped until this number is reached. If there are not enough, more will be automatically launched. This property has effect only on AWS deployments and if OPENVIDU_PRO_CLUSTER_AUTOSCALING=false. 1
OPENVIDU_PRO_CLUSTER_AUTOSCALING Whether to enable autoscaling or not. With autoscaling enabled, the number of Media Nodes will be automatically adjusted according to existing load. Enabling this property makes OPENVIDU_PRO_CLUSTER_MEDIA_NODES useless (instead will be using the value given to property OPENVIDU_PRO_CLUSTER_AUTOSCALING_MIN_NODES). false
OPENVIDU_PRO_CLUSTER_AUTOSCALING_MAX_NODES If OPENVIDU_PRO_CLUSTER_AUTOSCALING=true, the upper limit of Media Nodes that can be reached. Even when the average load exceeds the threshold, no more Media Nodes will be added to cluster. 2
OPENVIDU_PRO_CLUSTER_AUTOSCALING_MIN_NODES If OPENVIDU_PRO_CLUSTER_AUTOSCALING=true, the lower limit of Media Nodes that can be reached. Even when the average load is inferior to the threshold, no more Media Nodes will be removed from the cluster. This property acts as OPENVIDU_PRO_CLUSTER_MEDIA_NODES when autoscaling is enabled. 1
OPENVIDU_PRO_CLUSTER_AUTOSCALING_MAX_LOAD If OPENVIDU_PRO_CLUSTER_AUTOSCALING=true, the upper average load threshold that will trigger the addition of a new Media Node. Percentage value (0 min, 100 max). 70
OPENVIDU_PRO_CLUSTER_AUTOSCALING_MIN_LOAD If OPENVIDU_PRO_CLUSTER_AUTOSCALING=true, the lower average load threshold that will trigger the removal of an existing Media Node. Percentage value (0 min, 100 max). 20
OPENVIDU_PRO_CLUSTER_PATH Path where OpenVidu Server Pro will manage cluster-related files. This includes: looking for custom infrastructure management scripts and storing temporal output files with instances information. /opt/openvidu/cluster
OPENVIDU_PRO_CLUSTER_TEST If true, OpenVidu Server Pro will perform a quick test on startup to check the clustering features:
  1. Launch a Media Node
  2. Connect to it
  3. Drop it
OpenVidu Server Pro logs will inform about the test execution in detail.
Immediately after finishing the test, OpenVidu Server Pro process will terminate with an exit code of 0 if the test was successful, or 1 if it failed.
This property is extremely useful to test that your OpenVidu Pro deployment is working fine.		 false
OPENVIDU_PRO_ELASTICSEARCH_HOST URL where the Elasticsearch service of OpenVidu Pro stack is listening.
OpenVidu Pro will send to that URL useful statistics of your sessions. If this parameter is explicitly set to an empty string, OpenVidu Pro will not send any data to Elasticsearch. If it is defined, then it is mandatory that OpenVidu Pro is able to establish a connection to it or start up process will fail. By default, OpenVidu Pro deployments have an Elasticsearch stack installed on localhost.		 http://localhost:9200
OPENVIDU_PRO_ELASTICSEARCH_MAX_DAYS_DELETE Maximum number of days that Elasticsearch indexes in rollover state will be kept on disk. 7
OPENVIDU_PRO_KIBANA_HOST URL where the Kibana service of OpenVidu Pro stack is listening.
You can visualize Elasticsearch data in Kibana with the default dashboards provided by OpenVidu Pro, or you can create your own dashboards to better fit your needs.
If this parameter is explicitly set to an empty string, OpenVidu Pro will not connect to Kibana. If it is defined, then it is mandatory that OpenVidu Pro is able to establish a connection to it or else the start up process will fail.
By default, OpenVidu Pro deployments have Kibana installed on localhost.		 http://localhost:5601
OPENVIDU_PRO_STATS_SESSION_INTERVAL Interval in seconds for OpenVidu to start gathering statistics from Media Nodes.
This includes number of sessions in each Media Node, number of WebRTC connections, recordings, etc...
Set it to 0 for no gathering at all.		 5
OPENVIDU_PRO_STATS_SERVER_INTERVAL Interval in seconds for server-related metrics gathering: HTTP requests, statuses, log level information...
Set it to 0 for no gathering at all.		 10
OPENVIDU_PRO_STATS_MONITORING_INTERVAL Interval in seconds for CPU, memory and net usage stats gathering in Master Node. Set it to 0 for no gathering at all. 10
OPENVIDU_PRO_STATS_WEBRTC_INTERVAL Interval in seconds for WebRTC stats gathering from Media Nodes WebRTC endpoints. Set it to 0 for no gathering at all. 30
OPENVIDU_PRO_NETWORK_QUALITY Whether to enable or disable the Network Quality API.
You can monitor and warn users about the quality of their networks with this feature.		 false
OPENVIDU_PRO_NETWORK_QUALITY_INTERVAL If OPENVIDU_PRO_NETWORK_QUALITY=true, how often the network quality algorithm will be invoked for each user, in seconds. 5
OPENVIDU_BROWSER_LOGS How openvidu-browser logs of clients should be sent to Elasticsearch:
  • disabled: Don't send logs.
  • debug: Send all openvidu-browser logs.
  • debug_app: Send openvidu-browser logs and frontend app logs.
 disabled
OPENVIDU_PRO_RECORDING_STORAGE Where to store recordings:
  • local: Use local storage.
  • s3: Use an AWS S3 bucket
See Uploading recordings to AWS S3.		 local
OPENVIDU_PRO_AWS_S3_BUCKET If OPENVIDU_PRO_RECORDING_STORAGE=s3, AWS S3 bucket where to store recordings. May include paths to allow navigating folder structures inside the bucket.
OPENVIDU_PRO_AWS_S3_HEADERS If OPENVIDU_PRO_RECORDING_STORAGE=s3, the collection of HTTP header values that the internal AWS client will use during the upload process. The property is a key-value map of strings, following the format of a JSON object.
For example, to apply server-side encryption with AES-256, this header is mandatory:
{"x-amz-server-side-encryption":"AES256"}
The list of available headers can be found here.		 { }
OPENVIDU_PRO_AWS_S3_SERVICE_ENDPOINT If OPENVIDU_PRO_RECORDING_STORAGE=s3 and you want an S3 provider different to AWS, the service endpoint of the S3 bucket. This allows using any kind of S3 compatible buckets, not only AWS.
For example: https://s3.us-west-002.backblazeb2.com
OPENVIDU_PRO_AWS_ACCESS_KEY If OPENVIDU_PRO_RECORDING_STORAGE=s3, AWS long-lived credentials access key. Must have read and write permissions over the bucket defined in property OPENVIDU_PRO_AWS_S3_BUCKET. If not provided, then the internal S3 client will try to use the default AWS credentials of the machine, if available (see the credentials search order in the Java Doc).
OPENVIDU_PRO_AWS_SECRET_KEY If OPENVIDU_PRO_RECORDING_STORAGE=s3, AWS long-lived credentials secret key. If not provided, then the internal S3 client will try to use the default AWS credentials of the machine, if available (see the credentials search order in the Java Doc).
OPENVIDU_PRO_AWS_REGION If OPENVIDU_PRO_RECORDING_STORAGE=s3, AWS region in which the S3 bucket is located (e.g. "eu-west-1"). If not provided, the region will try to be discovered automatically, although this is not always possible.
OPENVIDU_PRO_PRIVATE_IP Private IP of Master Node. Media Nodes will use this property to communicate with Master Node. This property is optional and as a general rule should remain empty, as Media Nodes will automatically discover this IP.
It is only suitable for On Premises deployments when Media Nodes are not able to autodiscover the IP address for any kind of not contemplated reason.
OPENVIDU_PRO_LICENSE_HTTP_PROXY OpenVidu Pro or Enterprise sends periodically information about CPU usage and license checks. All of those requests requires HTTP/HTTPS access to the Internet to .

As some environments may use HTTP proxies to access the internet for security reasons, this parameter allows OpenVidu Pro and Enterprise to send license information and CPU usage using a configured proxy in your infrastructure.

An example of this parameter would be: your.proxy:8080
KMS_URIS Array of Media Node URIs (comma-separated list of strings) that should be automatically added to the cluster on startup. If any value is provided, then it must be valid and reachable, or OpenVidu will fail to start.
This property has effect only on On Premises deployments. All of Media Node URIs have the same format:
ws://MEDIA_NODE_IP:8888/kurento
For example, a possible value for this property for a single Media Node might look like this:
["ws://203.0.113.2:8888/kurento"]		 [ ]
ELASTICSEARCH_USERNAME When using a secured external Elastic stack, the name of the Elastic user.
ELASTICSEARCH_PASSWORD When using a secured external Elastic stack, the password of the Elastic user.


Configuration parameters for OpenVidu Enterprise 🔗

These configuration parameters apply only to OpenVidu Enterprise.

Parameter Description Default value
OPENVIDU_ENTERPRISE_MEDIA_SERVER Which media server to use in your deployment (see Kurento vs mediasoup). Possible values are:
• kurento
• mediasoup
 mediasoup
OPENVIDU_WEBRTC_SIMULCAST Whether to enable simulcast for all Publishers or not false


Special conditions of OpenVidu development container 🔗

When using the official development OpenVidu docker container to develop your app in your LAN network, there are some properties that you can't make use of. In the development container these configuration properties won't have effect, or may have unwanted side effects if declared. Avoid declaring them:

  • HTTP_PORT: in LAN networks redirects or Let's Encrypt don't make sense.
  • CERTIFICATE_TYPE: in LAN networks certificates don't make sense.

Also, take into account that these configuration properties have different default values in the development container:

  • DOMAIN_OR_PUBLIC_IP: default to localhost in the dev container. Container won't fail to start if you don't provide a value to it.
  • OPENVIDU_SECRET: default to MY_SECRET in the dev container. Container won't fail to start if you don't provide a value to it.
  • HTTPS_PORT: default to 4443 in the dev container.

Below there is an example of a docker run command to launch the OpenVidu development container while setting multiple configuration properties:

docker run -p 4443:4443 --rm \
    -e OPENVIDU_SECRET=my_password \
    -e OPENVIDU_RECORDING=true \
    -e OPENVIDU_RECORDING_PATH=/home/openvidu/recordings \
    -v /var/run/docker.sock:/var/run/docker.sock \
    -v /home/openvidu/recordings:/home/openvidu/recordings \
    -e OPENVIDU_CDR=true \
    -e OPENVIDU_CDR_PATH=/home/openvidu/cdr \
    -v /home/openvidu/cdr:/home/openvidu/cdr \
    -e OPENVIDU_WEBHOOK=true \
    -e OPENVIDU_WEBHOOK_ENDPOINT=https://localhost:7777/my-endpoint \
openvidu/openvidu-server-kms:latest