Discord completes global end-to-end encryption for voice and video calls

Discord has completed a global rollout of end-to-end encryption for all voice and video calls on its platform, a significant privacy upgrade that now shields the content of conversations from everyone except the participants, including Discord itself. The change, which became the default standard in March 2026, applies to direct messages, group calls, server voice channels, and Go Live streams across desktop, mobile, web, and console clients.

The encryption is powered by Discord’s custom, open-source DAVE protocol, which the company first introduced in September 2024. The protocol was independently audited by cybersecurity firm Trail of Bits. According to Mark Smith, Discord’s vice president of core technology, the migration was a multi-year effort to implement encryption at the platform's scale without compromising call quality or latency. He noted that a single Discord call can involve participants on laptops, phones, gaming consoles, and web browsers simultaneously, making the technical implementation uniquely complex.

A key step in the enforcement timeline occurred on March 1, 2026, when Discord began requiring all clients and apps to support the DAVE protocol. Older app...