FAQ
Frequently asked questions
Do I need to create an account to use 4K Chat?
No. You can start or join a room without signing up. An account is only needed for paid tiers, saved preferences, and MCP / AI-agent access.
Is 4K Chat really peer-to-peer?
Yes. Media flows browser-to-browser over WebRTC. We operate no SFU, no TURN relay, and no cloud recording pipeline — the only server involvement is a few kilobytes of signaling to help peers find each other.
What resolutions are supported?
Up to 8K when your camera, hardware, and network allow it — resolution follows your machine. The app negotiates the highest quality both sides can sustain and adapts in real time. HDR is not supported: browsers have no API to request HDR capture, so no web app can honestly claim it today.
Which browsers work?
Chrome, Edge, Brave, Arc, Opera, Safari 17+, and Firefox. On a Smart TV, mirror or cast from your phone or PC — there is no Smart TV store app today. See /support/big-screen for the easiest way to get it on the TV.
Are calls end-to-end encrypted?
Yes. Every stream uses DTLS-SRTP by default, and Insertable-Streams per-frame E2EE with a 4-emoji Safety Number is available for verified 1:1 calls.
Can I record a call?
Yes — recordings are captured locally on the recorder's device as WebM using MediaRecorder. Nothing is uploaded to us.
How many participants can join?
Rooms run as a full mesh — every participant connects directly to every other, with no media server in between. It's built for small rooms where quality matters more than headcount.
Can I add a security camera to a call?
Capture cards and extra device cameras join as their own participants today. IP camera feeds — WHEP, HLS, MJPEG, and RTSP via a bridge on your own network — are coming.
Will an extra camera ruin the quality for people on the call?
No. Each camera runs its own adaptive bitrate ladder and only uses uplink left over after the human participants are served. Camera tracks are marked low priority, so the browser starves them first when the link tightens.
Who decides which cameras can join?
The session initiator, or a delegate the host appoints. A camera stays dark until it's admitted, and approval is enforced both at the publisher and at every receiver — revoking it drops the feed immediately.
Can a call run for hours or days?
That's the design target. Rooms renew their own lease, timers run in a Worker so background tabs can't stall the keepalive, a media watchdog re-negotiates silent tracks, and ICE recovery retries for as long as the call is open.
Can I use 4K Chat for sensitive or regulated conversations?
The architecture is the argument: media is peer-to-peer and end-to-end encrypted, there is no SFU, TURN relay, or cloud recording, and only kilobytes of signaling metadata reach our backend. We publish that architecture rather than a compliance certification — whether it satisfies your regulator is a call for your own compliance review. See the public safety use case for detail.
Can a room be mostly cameras, with only one or two people?
Yes. Cameras are ordinary participants, so a monitoring room can carry several approved feeds and a single operator. Camera tracks are low priority, so people always get bandwidth first.
Is there a limit on how long a monitoring session can run?
Not by design. No plan has a call-length cap — including free — rooms renew their own lease, and the resilience layer keeps re-establishing connections for as long as the session is open.
Do guests need an account to join?
No. Guests open a link, check themselves in the pre-join lobby, and join. Accounts exist only for paid tiers, saved preferences, and agent access.
Which use case fits me?
We publish dedicated pages for remote production, site monitoring, education and training, podcasts and interviews, manufacturing and field service, public safety, sports coaching, and real estate and construction walkthroughs — each covering the setup and the capabilities involved.
Do I need to install anything?
No. 4K Chat runs in the browser. You can also install it as a PWA on desktop, mobile, and Smart TVs from the /install page.
What happens if my network is bad?
Adaptive bitrate and Scalable Video Coding downshift resolution and framerate on the fly to keep the call connected. When your link recovers, quality scales back up.
Do you use TURN servers?
No — deliberately. TURN would give us per-minute media costs and would let us relay your media. We use a large pool of free public STUN servers plus aggressive ICE strategies to keep direct P2P connection rates high.