Basic tuning settings

DISCLAIMER: this is not legal nor technical advice. It is just a WIP proposal, open to discussion, on how a Jitsi server can be quickly (and legally) deployed in order to host one’s own private videomeetings, based on authors’ practical experiences.

Jitsi default settings may work well with conferences with only a few participants, but as the number of participants increases, some of them may experience problems and crashes (not due to Jitsi server but to bandwidth and hardware limitations on the client side): by default each client encode (and send to the server) multiple video stream layers and, at the same time, receive everyone else’s at an ideal resolution of 720p.

IMPORTANT NOTE: after saving your settings, always restart jitsi services to apply them: sudo service jicofo restart && sudo service jitsi-videobridge2 restart.

Change default language

You may want to change default interface language, if you are located in a non-English speaking country.
Users may still choose they preferred language in client settings.

sudo nano /etc/jitsi/meet/$(hostname -f)-config.js

edit language code defaultLanguage: 'en'

Force users to set a display name

You may want to force users to choose a display name, to easily identify who is talking.

sudo nano /etc/jitsi/meet/$(hostname -f)-config.js

set requireDisplayName: true (and uncomment if necessary)

You may want to suspend unused video layers until they are requested again, to save up resources on both server and clients.

set enableLayerSuspension: true (and uncomment if necessary)

read more on this feature here

You may want to limit the maximum video resolution, to save up resources on both server and clients.

sudo nano /etc/jitsi/meet/$(hostname -f)-config.js

for example: set resolution: 480 (and uncomment if necessary); uncomment the entire constraints section and set ideal: 480, max: 480

You may want to limit the number of video feeds forwarded to each client, to save up resources on both server and clients. As clients’ bandwidth and CPU may not bear the load, use this setting to avoid lag and crashes.
This feature is found by default in other webconference applications such as Office 365 Teams (limit is set to 4).
Read how it works on Jitsi official doc and performance evaluation on this study.

sudo nano /etc/jitsi/meet/$(hostname -f)-config.js

set number of unmuted video feeds channelLastN: 4 (and uncomment if necessary)

OPTIONAL: Deactivate webcams at start by default

You may want to start the conference with all video feeds deactivated, to save up resources both on server and clients.

sudo nano /etc/jitsi/meet/$(hostname -f)-config.js

set startAudioOnly: true (and uncomment if necessary)

OPTIONAL: Deactivate webcams after the Nth participant at start

You may want to start the conference with a few video feeds, to keep order.

sudo nano /etc/jitsi/meet/$(hostname -f)-config.js

set number of unmuted webcams startVideoMuted: 10 (and uncomment if necessary)

OPTIONAL: Deactivate mics at start by default

You may want to start the conference with all audio feeds deactivated, to keep order.

sudo nano /etc/jitsi/meet/$(hostname -f)-config.js

OPTIONAL: Deactivate mics after the Nth participant at start

You may want to start the conference with a few audio feeds, to keep order.

sudo nano /etc/jitsi/meet/$(hostname -f)-config.js

set number of unmuted mics startAudioMuted: 10 (and uncomment if necessary)