Discord makes end-to-end encryption standard for voice and video calls

Discord has completed its rollout of end-to-end encryption for voice and video calls, making the protection standard across supported calls without requiring users to enable a setting.

The company said in its May 18 announcement that every voice and video call on Discord is now end-to-end encrypted by default, except for Stage Channels. The migration was completed at the beginning of March 2026.

The change covers direct message calls, group direct message calls, server voice channels, and Go Live streams. It does not apply to Discord text messages, and Stage Channels remain outside the rollout because Discord designed them for larger broadcasts such as events, AMAs, and town halls.

What Discord changed in March 2026

Discord’s new default means supported calls now use its DAVE protocol automatically. Users do not need to opt in, and Discord says call quality and performance should remain unchanged.

The Discord support page says E2EE for audio and video is enabled by default and cannot be turned off. It also says unsupported clients could no longer connect to protected call types from March 2, 2026.

In practice, this means older clients that do not support DAVE should not be able to join eligible Discord calls. Discord said it is also removing legacy fallback code for unencrypted calls.

Discord feature	E2EE status	Notes
DM voice and video calls	Enabled by default	No opt-in required
Group DM calls	Enabled by default	Uses DAVE on supported clients
Server voice channels	Enabled by default	Requires DAVE-compatible clients
Go Live streams	Enabled by default	Stream previews for users outside the call are not end-to-end encrypted
Stage Channels	Not supported	Designed for larger broadcast-style events
Text messages	Not supported	Discord says it has no current plans to add E2EE to text

DAVE powers Discord’s encrypted calls

The encryption system is called Discord Audio and Video End-to-End Encryption, or DAVE. Discord introduced it publicly in 2024 before expanding it across more call types and platforms.

In its earlier DAVE introduction, Discord said it was migrating voice and video in DMs, group DMs, voice channels, and Go Live streams to the protocol. The company also said messages would not use end-to-end encryption and would continue to follow Discord’s existing moderation approach.

DAVE matters because Discord calls often include users on different devices at the same time. A single call can include desktop users, mobile users, web browser users, PlayStation users, Xbox users, bots, and SDK integrations.

Discord expanded DAVE to web, consoles, and apps

Discord spent 2025 closing the remaining platform gaps. In a September 2025 engineering post, the company said it was bringing DAVE support to browsers, consoles, the Social SDK, and bot or app integrations.

That step mattered because one unsupported client could previously stop a call from being fully encrypted. Discord later moved to a stricter model where unsupported clients can no longer join eligible encrypted calls.

The rollout also required browser-level work. Discord said it worked with Mozilla to fix a Firefox issue that prevented the DAVE encryption path from working correctly in real calls.

• Desktop clients support DAVE for encrypted calls.
• Mobile clients support DAVE for encrypted calls.
• Web clients gained support as part of the final platform rollout.
• Console clients, including PlayStation and Xbox, were added to close compatibility gaps.
• Bots, apps, and the Social SDK were also included in the broader migration.

How DAVE protects voice and video content

The public DAVE protocol whitepaper says the protocol uses Messaging Layer Security for group key exchange and WebRTC encoded transforms to encrypt audio and video frames before they pass through Discord’s relay infrastructure.

That design lets Discord route call traffic without having access to the media encryption keys. Discord’s servers can still coordinate the call, but the actual audio and video content should remain available only to active participants.

The whitepaper also says keys change when participants join or leave a call. That helps prevent someone from decrypting media sent before they joined or after they left.

Technical element	Role in DAVE
Messaging Layer Security	Handles group key exchange for call participants
WebRTC encoded transforms	Encrypts encoded audio and video frames inside the media pipeline
Voice Gateway	Coordinates session and protocol details
Selective Forwarding Unit	Relays encrypted media packets to call participants
Participant key changes	Refreshes media keys when members join or leave

The protocol is open and externally reviewed

Discord has published both the protocol design and implementation details for outside review. The company says DAVE is open, externally audited, and included in its security review efforts.

The DAVE protocol GitHub repository contains the whitepaper for Discord’s audio and video end-to-end encryption design. The repository also explains that eligible media sessions include DM calls, group DM calls, server voice channels outside Stage Channels, and Go Live streams.

Discord also published libdave on GitHub, which contains the JavaScript and C++ libraries used by Discord clients to support the protocol. That gives researchers and developers a way to inspect the implementation, not only the announcement.

How users can check whether a call is encrypted

Discord users can check the encryption status during a call. The official help article says users can look for the green end-to-end encrypted lock icon in voice or video details on desktop, or in the call view on mobile.

Go Live streams also include a Stream Privacy Code. Participants can compare this code outside Discord to confirm they are seeing the same encrypted stream session.

Users should also keep Discord updated. Since unsupported clients can no longer join eligible E2EE calls, outdated apps may fail to connect or may need an update before joining voice or video sessions.

Why text messages are not included

Discord’s move focuses on live audio and video. The company says it has no current plans to extend end-to-end encryption to text messages.

That limitation comes from how Discord built many existing text features. Search, moderation, abuse reporting, server management, and other platform features rely on server-side text processing, which makes a full text E2EE shift much more complex.

In the rollout announcement, Discord said many text features were built under the assumption that text is not end-to-end encrypted. Rebuilding those systems around encrypted text would require major engineering changes.

What the change means for privacy

The practical privacy gain is clear: Discord says no one outside an active call, including Discord itself, should have access to ongoing call content when DAVE is active.

The DAVE whitepaper frames the protocol’s goal as protection against passive and active eavesdroppers across the devices Discord supports. That includes web, mobile, console, and desktop clients.

The change also puts Discord closer to privacy expectations that many users already have for private calls. Voice and video conversations now receive stronger technical protection than before, while text remains governed by Discord’s existing trust, safety, and moderation systems.

What developers and researchers can review

Discord has made the DAVE materials available for public inspection. That includes the protocol design, the client libraries, and earlier engineering posts explaining the cross-platform rollout.

The libdave repository shows the libraries Discord uses to implement DAVE in native clients. The DAVE protocol repository gives security researchers a direct look at the protocol model and whitepaper.

Discord’s 2024 launch post also says Trail of Bits reviewed both the design and implementation. The follow-up platform rollout post explains how Discord handled browser, console, bot, and SDK support before making DAVE the standard.

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