---
"@context": https://schema.org
"@type": TechArticle
"@id": https://www.twilio.com/docs/video/media-sdks#article
headline: Media SDKs overview
description: Twilio Video Media SDKs give server-side apps direct access to the raw audio and video frames in a Video Room. Learn what they do and when to use them.
url: https://www.twilio.com/docs/video/media-sdks
inLanguage: en
dateModified: 2026-09-15T15:39:36.000Z
author:
  "@type": Organization
  name: Twilio Developer Education Team
publisher:
  "@type": Organization
  name: Twilio
---

# Media SDKs overview

Twilio Video Media SDKs let your server-side app join a Video [Room][vRoom] and work with decoded audio and video media. With the SDK, your app can send and receive raw frames from a Room. This works without the need for a person to capture video from a camera and render it to a screen.

Media SDKs work on the server-side in the same way the [client-side SDKs][cs-sdks] work on browsers, Android, and iOS. All the SDKs share the same Room, [Participant][vPart], and [Track][vTrack] model and connect with the same Access Tokens.

## Purpose

Direct frame access lets a back-end service participate in a Room as a media producer, consumer, or both. This participation might take one of the following forms:

* Media processing pipelines that analyze or transform frames in real time.
* AI and voice agents that consume Room audio and speak back into the Room.
* Virtual cameras that push generated or pre-recorded video into a Room.

## Differences between client and server SDKs

The client-side SDKs run where a person is: a browser or a mobile device, capturing from a camera and microphone and rendering to a screen. The Media SDKs run on a server and exchange raw frames.

To understand the differences, see the following table:

| Area          | [Client-side SDKs][cs-sdks]              | Server-side SDKs                               |
| ------------- | ---------------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------- |
| Target user   | Person                                   | App                                            |
| Languages     | JavaScript, Java (Android), Swift (iOS)  | Node.js                                        |
| Runs on or as | Runs in browsers or mobile devices.      | Runs as a server process.                      |
| Local media   | Captured from a camera or microphone.    | Pushed as raw frames by your code.             |
| Remote media  | Rendered to a UI element.                | Delivered as raw decoded frames to a callback. |
| Use case      | Make in-person conferencing and calling. | Automate media processing and integrate media. |

## Twilio SDK support

To learn how Twilio supports SDK releases across versions, see the [Platform SDK Support Policy][platform-sdk-policy].

## Next steps

* [Overview][]: Learn what the Node.js SDK does and how to install it.
* [Quickstart][]: Connect to a Room and move your first frames.

[cs-sdks]: /docs/video/javascript

[Overview]: /docs/video/node

[platform-sdk-policy]: /docs/video/platform-sdk-support-policy

[Quickstart]: /docs/video/node-getting-started

[vPart]: /docs/video/api/participants

[vRoom]: /docs/video/api/rooms-resource

[vTrack]: /docs/video/api/publishedtrack