livekit

What it is and what it does

LiveKit is a Python SDK for building real-time communication applications. It provides two main interfaces: a participant SDK (rtc) for connecting to LiveKit rooms and streaming video/audio, and a server API (api) for managing rooms, generating access tokens, and orchestrating ingress/egress. The SDK handles WebRTC negotiation, media track subscription, and participant lifecycle events through an event-driven architecture built on asyncio.

The package depends on protobuf for protocol serialization, aiofiles for async file operations, and numpy for media data handling. It ships as precompiled wheels for macOS (Intel and ARM), Linux (x86_64 and ARM64), and Windows, reducing installation friction. Typical use cases include multi-participant video calls, live streaming applications, AI agent integration, and SIP bridging. The SDK is actively maintained and supports Python 3.9 through 3.14.

Use it for:

• Build multi-participant video conferencing applications with automatic track subscription and participant lifecycle management.
• Create live streaming platforms with room management, recording, and egress services via the server API.
• Integrate AI agents that perform RPC calls to connected participants or receive media streams for processing.
• Implement SIP trunk connectivity to bridge traditional telephony with LiveKit rooms.
• Capture and process local microphone/speaker input using MediaDevices with audio processing (AEC, noise suppression).

Worth the install?

AI-flagged interpretation of the facts on this page — verify before relying

Python SDK for building real-time video, audio, and data applications by connecting to LiveKit servers as a participant or managing rooms via server APIs.

Yes. The package is actively maintained, has no known vulnerabilities, uses a permissive Apache-2.0 license, and provides a complete real-time communication SDK with both participant and server APIs. Medium install friction is offset by precompiled wheels across major platforms. Install if you need WebRTC video/audio conferencing, live streaming, or AI agent integration in Python.

Install

livekit on PyPI

pip install livekit

uv add livekit

poetry add livekit

Installing livekit

Before you install

Medium install friction due to precompiled wheels for multiple platforms (macOS x86_64/ARM64, Linux x86_64/ARM64, Windows). Active maintenance with recent release (14 days ago) and 375 repository stars indicate ongoing support.

License in practice

Apache-2.0 permissive license allows commercial and private use with minimal restrictions; suitable for proprietary applications.

Quickstart

pip install livekit

from livekit import rtc

room = rtc.Room()
await room.connect(url, token)

@room.on("participant_connected")
def on_participant_connected(participant: rtc.RemoteParticipant):
    print(f"Participant: {participant.identity}")

Requires Python 3.9 or later; asyncio event loop required for room operations; LiveKit server URL and authentication token needed to connect.

Verify before relying

• Whether sounddevice library is bundled or must be installed separately for MediaDevices functionality.
• Performance characteristics and latency guarantees for real-time media streaming.
• Whether numpy is used for media frame processing or is a transitive dependency only.

Package facts

Evidence: livekit-1.1.14-py3-none-macosx_10_15_x86_64.whl; livekit-1.1.14-py3-none-macosx_11_0_arm64.whl; livekit-1.1.14-py3-none-manylinux_2_28_aarch64.whl; livekit-1.1.14-py3-none-manylinux_2_28_x86_64.whl; livekit-1.1.14-py3-none-win_amd64.whl

Keywords: webrtc, realtime, audio, video, livekit

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