Discord rolls out end-to-end encryption for voice and video calls

Discord now employs end-to-end encryption for all voice and video calls across desktop, mobile, web, and console platforms. This long-awaited feature was first announced in 2023, with the migration starting a year later.

In summer 2023, the company announced it was testing end-to-end encryption but faced challenges adding it without affecting latency or quality, given the service’s reliance on many servers.

Over a year later, Discord revealed the protocol it would use and gradually transitioned to it. That migration is now complete across all platforms. End-to-end encryption is now standard for every voice and video call, except Stage channels, with no opt-in needed.

Discord’s voice and video infrastructure is notable not just for its scale, but also for its diversity. A single call can include users on laptops, phones, PlayStations, Xboxes, and browsers, all in one conversation, while maintaining high-quality, low-latency communication.

Developing an E2EE protocol that works seamlessly across all these devices is exceptional. DAVE is probably one of the most platform-diverse E2EE voice and video systems on the internet.

The company added a “by default” setting because some older code still allows fallback to unencrypted messaging, which will be removed in the final update.

“To complete that migration, we required all clients to support DAVE before joining a call. We are now removing the client code that supports unencrypted fallback. After that is done, it will not be possible to fall back to unencrypted connections,” the company explained.

Discord notes that Stage channels are exempt because they are broadcast rather than personal conversations.