ICE Lite is a simplified implementation of ICE designed for servers that have public IP addresses and do not need NAT traversal.
How ICE Lite differs from full ICE
In full ICE, both endpoints gather candidates, exchange them, and perform connectivity checks from both sides. This is necessary when both peers might be behind NATs.
In ICE Lite, the server:
- Only uses its host candidates (public IPs) – no STUN or TURN gathering
- Does not initiate connectivity checks – it only responds to checks from the client
- Has a much simpler state machine
Where ICE Lite is used
ICE Lite is commonly used by:
- SFU media servers: Janus, mediasoup, Pion, and most WebRTC media servers use ICE-lite since they run on servers with known public IPs
- PBXs: FreeSwitch and Asterisk implement ICE-lite
- Broadcast infrastructure: WHIP/WHEP endpoints
ICE-lite significantly reduces the complexity and connection setup time for server-side WebRTC, which is why nearly all media servers use it instead of full ICE.
