Discord has announced the use of a new encrypted protocol for audio and video communication within their system. This protocol, named Discord audio and video end-to-end encryption (DAVE), was developed in-house to meet the platform’s specific needs. DAVE allows for cross-platform functionality and is compatible with all Discord clients on various platforms. It can scale to support a large number of users without the need for downgrading communication quality, ensuring robust resistance to interception. Only Discord itself can access the encryption keys, maintaining transparency and earning user trust.
Utilizing the WebRTC standard for voice and video communication, Discord’s DAVE protocol further builds upon this foundation with the WebRTC encoded transform API. Additionally, it employs Messaging Layer Security (MLS), similar to Google Messages, for exchanging encryption keys between users. For a more in-depth understanding, detailed information is available from the original source.
In the spirit of transparency, the DAVE protocol comes with a whitepaper detailing its workings and an open-source library, libdave, which Discord clients utilize. To ensure the protocol’s robustness, security firm Trail of Bits has been employed to conduct thorough reviews.
Currently, Discord is progressively transitioning voice and video traffic to the DAVE protocol, already supported on desktop and mobile clients, with other platforms (such as web) to follow in the upcoming year.
TLDR: Discord introduces the DAVE protocol for secure voice and video communication, enhancing user privacy and trust through encryption and open transparency practices.
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