If an administrator has configured the Real-Time Audio-Video feature, you can use the client machine's audio-video devices in a remote desktop or published application. Real-Time Audio-Video is compatible with standard conferencing applications and browser-based video applications, and it supports standard webcams, audio USB devices, and analog audio input.

Overview of Real-Time Audio-Video

The default video resolution is 320 x 240 pixels. The default Real-Time Audio-Video settings work well with most webcam and audio applications.

For information about changing the Real-Time Audio-Video settings, see "Configuring Real-Time Audio-Video Group Policy Settings" in the Horizon Remote Desktop Features and GPOs document.

When a remote desktop or published application is connected to the client machine's audio-video device, before the remote desktop or published application can use the device, Chrome asks for permission the first time. If you allow the device to be used, Chrome does not ask for permission again.

If Real-Time Audio-Video is being used in a remote desktop or published application session and you open a connection to a second remote desktop or published application, and if a security warning appears (for example, if a valid certificate was not installed), ignoring the warning and continuing to connect to the second remote desktop or published application causes Real-Time Audio-Video to stop working in the first session.

Improving Real-Time Audio-Video Performance

When using Real-Time Audio-Video with certain data-intensive applications, such as video conferencing applications, you might encounter a lag in performance. To improve performance, you can enable the H.264 codec for Real-Time Audio-Video. You can also specify whether to use hardware acceleration for Real-Time Audio-Video.

Chrome client uses the Opus audio codec to handle a wide range of audio applications, including Voice over IP, videoconferencing, and so on. To improve the real-time audio performance, you can configure the Opus codec on the Chrome client.

The following sections describe how to configure these settings to improve Real-Time Audio-Video performance.

Enable the H.264 Codec for Real-Time Audio-Video

H.264 is an industry standard for video compression, which is the process of converting digital video into a format that takes up less capacity when it is stored or transmitted.

To support H.264 for Real-Time Audio-Video, your client device must be running ChromeOS 94 or later.

To enable the H.264 codec, set the Google Admin policy setting enableRTAVH264Codec to true (the default value). See Client Features.

Configure Hardware Acceleration for Real-Time Audio-Video

Real-Time Audio-Video hardware acceleration works on your client only if the graphics processing unit (GPU) is supported on your device and is compatible with FFmpeg.

Enabling hardware acceleration can improve performance, but it can also result in feature limitations under certain use cases. A configuration setting lets you turn on or off hardware acceleration for Real-Time Audio-Video as needed.

To configure hardware acceleration, configure the Google Admin policy setting hardwareAccelerationOption as described in Client Features.

Configure Opus Codec to Improve the Audio Performance

On the Chrome Client, you can configure the Opus codec using the following steps:

  1. Login to your Google Admin Console using your Google admin account and navigate to Google admin policy.
  2. Navigate to common-setting and add enableRTAVOpusCodec: "true" or enableRTAVOpusCodec: "false".
  3. Set enableRTAVOpusCodec: "true" to enable opus codec or set enableRTAVOpusCodec: "false" to disable opus codec.
Note: By default, enableRTAVOpusCodec is always set to true.

Enable Discontinuous Transmission Mode

Discontinuous transmission (DTX) mode provides a solution where there is a huge reduction in the audio traffic when the participant is silent. The reduction in audio traffic occurs as the audio packet is not transmitted. To enable Discontinuous Transmission mode, perform the following steps:

  1. Login to your Google Admin Console using your Google admin account and navigate to Google admin policy.
  2. Navigate to common-setting and add enableRTAVDTX: "true" or enableRTAVDTX: "false".
  3. Set enableRTAVDTX: "true" to enable real-time audio video discontinuous transmission mode or set enableRTAVDTX: "false" to disable real-time audio video discontinuous transmission mode.
Note: By default, enableRTAVDTX is always set to true.