How Zoom Handles 1,000 People on One Call

How does a Zoom call with dozens of people stay almost lag-free? Zoom never builds one grid for everyone, and the server carrying your face never even opens it. Here's how Zoom really works: - Your laptop squeezes about 300 megabits of video a second down to a megabit or two, and sends up to four sizes of your face - The nearest Zoom data centre has a router that passes each packet on without opening or decrypting it - Your app asks for a big copy of the speaker and tiny ones for everyone else, so every screen builds its own grid - A live stream saves up around 20 seconds of video; Zoom keeps only a few hundredths of a second in reserve - When your Wi-Fi gets bad, Zoom drops your video first and keeps your voice One Zoom router can handle more than a thousand people. Next time someone talks over you on a call, you'll know why. Sources: Zoom S-1 filing (2019), Zoom architecture and encryption whitepapers, Zoom Support bandwidth guide, Chang et al. IMC 2021, Stivers et al. PNAS 2009. Follow Binaryhood for more on how the tech you use every day actually works. #Zoom #VideoCalls #Shorts #Tech