XMPP stands for Extensible Messaging and Presence Protocol.
XMPP is an open XML-based messaging protocol originally designed for instant messaging and presence. It was one of the signaling protocol options considered for WebRTC applications.
XMPP and WebRTC
XMPP has a multimedia extension called Jingle (XEP-0166) that can be used as a WebRTC signaling protocol. Google originally used XMPP with Jingle for Google Talk and early Hangouts.
However, XMPP has largely fallen out of favor for WebRTC signaling due to:
- XML parsing overhead compared to JSON
- Complexity of the XMPP extension ecosystem
- Most developers prefer simpler WebSocket-based signaling with JSON messages
- SIP is preferred when telecom interoperability is needed
XMPP remains relevant in some enterprise messaging platforms and IoT applications where its presence and multi-user chat capabilities are valuable.
