Release notes

This page provides the release notes for the Voice Calling 4.x.

• Video SDK
• Notifications
• AI Noise Suppression

If your target platform is Android 12 or higher, add the android.permission.BLUETOOTH_CONNECT permission to the AndroidManifest.xml file of the Android project to enable the Bluetooth function of the Android system.

v4.2.2 was released on july 27, 2023.

1. Wildcard token

   This release introduces wildcard tokens. Agora supports setting the channel name used for generating a token as a wildcard character. The token generated can be used to join any channel if you use the same user id. In scenarios involving multiple channels, such as switching between different channels, using a wildcard token can avoid repeated application of tokens every time users joining a new channel, which reduces the pressure on your token server. See Secure authentication with tokens.

   All 4.x SDKs support using wildcard tokens.

2. Preloading channels

   This release adds preloadChannel[1/2] and preloadChannel[2/2] methods, which allows a user whose role is set as audience to preload channels before joining one. Calling the method can help shortening the time of joining a channel, thus reducing the time it takes for audience members to hear the host.

   When preloading more than one channels, Agora recommends that you use a wildcard token for preloading to avoid repeated application of tokens every time you joining a new channel, thus saving the time for switching between channels. See Secure authentication with tokens.

1. Virtual Background Algorithm Upgrade

   This version has upgraded the portrait segmentation algorithm of the virtual background, which comprehensively improves the accuracy of portrait segmentation, the smoothness of the portrait edge with the virtual background, and the fit of the edge when the person moves. In addition, it optimizes the precision of the person's edge in scenarios such as meetings, offices, homes, and under backlight or weak light conditions.

2. Channel media relay

   The number of target channels for media relay has been increased to 6. When calling startOrUpdateChannelMediaRelay and startOrUpdateChannelMediaRelayEx, you can specify up to 6 target channels.

This release includes the following additional improvements:

1. To improve the switching experience between multiple audio routes, this release adds the setRouteInCommunicationMode method. This method can switch the audio route from a Bluetooth headphone to the earpiece, wired headphone or speaker in communication volume mode (MODE_IN_COMMUNICATION).

This release fixed the following issues:

• Slow channel reconnection after the connection was interrupted due to network reasons.

Added

• preloadChannel[1/2]
• preloadChannel[2/2]
• updatePreloadChannelToken
• setRouteInCommunicationMode

This version was released on June 21, 2023.

This version improves the network transmission strategy, enhancing the smoothness of audio interactions.

This version fixed the following issues:

• Inability to join channels caused by SDK's incompatibility with some older versions of AccessToken.
• After the sending end called setAINSMode to activate AI noise reduction, occasional echo was observed by the receiving end.
• Brief noise occurred while playing media files using the media player.

v4.2.0 was released on May 24, 2023.

If you use the features mentioned in this section, ensure that you modify the implementation of the relevant features after upgrading the SDK.

1. Channel media options

• publishCustomAudioTrackEnableAec in ChannelMediaOptions is deleted. Use publishCustomAudioTrack instead.
• publishCustomAudioSourceId in ChannelMediaOptions is renamed to publishCustomAudioTrackId.

2. Miscellaneous

• onApiCallExecuted is deleted. Agora recommends getting the results of the API implementation through relevant channels and media callbacks.
• startChannelMediaRelay, updateChannelMediaRelay, startChannelMediaRelayEx, and updateChannelMediaRelayEx are deprecated. Use startOrUpdateChannelMediaRelay and startOrUpdateChannelMediaRelayEx instead.

1. AI Noise Suppression

This release introduces public APIs for the AI Noise Suppression function. Once enabled, the SDK automatically detects and reduces background noises. Whether in bustling public venues or real-time competitive arenas that demand lightning-fast responsiveness, this function guarantees optimal audio clarity, providing users with an elevated audio experience. You can enable this function through the newly-introduced setAINSMode method and set the noise reduction mode as balance, aggressive, or low latency according to your scenarios.

Agora charges separately for this function. See AI Noise Suppression unit pricing.

2. Cross-device synchronization

In real-time collaborative singing scenarios, network issues can cause inconsistencies in the downlinks of different client devices. To address this, this release introduces getNtpWallTimeInMs for obtaining the current Network Time Protocol (NTP) time. By using this method to synchronize lyrics and music across multiple client devices, users can achieve synchronized singing and lyrics progression, resulting in a better collaborative experience.

1. Improved voice changer

This release introduces the setLocalVoiceFormant method that allows you to adjust the formant ratio to change the timbre of the voice. This method can be used together with the setLocalVoicePitch method to adjust the pitch and timbre of voice at the same time, enabling a wider range of voice transformation effects.

2. Improved compatibility with audio file types

As of v4.2.0, you can use the following methods to open files with a URI starting with content://:

• startAudioMixing [2/2]
• playEffect [3/3]
• open [2/2]
• openWithMediaSource

3. Channel media relay

This release introduces startOrUpdateChannleMediaRelay and startOrUpdateChannleMediaRelayEx, allowing for a simpler and smoother way to start and update media relay across channels. With these methods, developers can easily start the media relay across channels and update the target channels for media relay with a single method. Additionally, the internal interaction frequency has been optimized, effectively reducing latency in function calls.

4. Custom audio tracks

To better meet the needs of custom audio capture scenarios, this release adds createCustomAudioTrack and destroyCustomAudioTrack for creating and destroying custom audio tracks. Two types of audio tracks are also provided for users to choose from, further improving the flexibility of capturing external audio source:

• Mixable audio track: Supports mixing multiple external audio sources and publishing them to the same channel, suitable for multi-channel audio capture scenarios.
• Direct audio track: Only supports publishing one external audio source to a single channel, suitable for low-latency audio capture scenarios.

This release fixed the following issues:

• Occasional crashes occurred on Android devices when users joined or left a channel.
• When the host frequently switched the user role between broadcaster and audience in a short period of time, the audience members could not hear the audio of the host.
• Occasional failure when enabling in-ear monitoring.
• Occasional echo.
• Abnormal client status caused by an exception in the onRemoteAudioStateChanged callback.

Added

• startOrUpdateChannelMediaRelay
• startOrUpdateChannelMediaRelayEx
• getNtpWallTimeInMs
• setAINSMode
• createAudioCustomTrack
• destroyAudioCustomTrack
• AudioTrackConfig
• AudioTrackType
• The mDomainLimit and mAutoRegisterAgoraExtensions members in RtcEngineConfig

Deprecated

• startChannelMediaRelay
• startChannelMediaRelayEx
• updateChannelMediaRelay
• updateChannelMediaRelayEx
• onChannelMediaRelayEvent

Deleted

• onApiCallExecuted
• publishCustomAudioTrackEnableAec in ChannelMediaOptions in ChannelMediaOptions

v4.1.1 was released on February 8, 2023.

Instant audio frame rendering

This release adds the enableInstantMediaRendering method to enable instant rendering mode for audio and video frames, which can speed up the first video or audio frame rendering after the user joins the channel.

This release fixed the following issues:

• Playing audio files with a sample rate of 48 kHz failed.
• In real-time chorus scenarios, remote users heard noises and echoes when an OPPO R11 device joined the channel in loudspeaker mode.
• When the playback of the local music finished, the onAudioMixingFinished callback was not properly triggered.
• At the moment when a user left a channel, a request for leaving was not sent to the server and the leaving behavior was incorrectly determined by the server as timed out.

Added

enableInstantMediaRendering

v4.1.0 was released on December 15, 2022.

1. Headphone equalization effect

This release adds the setHeadphoneEQParameters method, which is used to adjust the low- and high-frequency parameters of the headphone EQ. This is mainly useful in spatial audio scenarios. If you cannot achieve the expected headphone EQ effect after calling setHeadphoneEQPreset, you can call setHeadphoneEQParameters to adjust the EQ.

2. MPUDP (MultiPath UDP) (Beta)

As of this release, the SDK supports MPUDP protocol, which enables you to connect and use multiple paths to maximize the use of channel resources based on the UDP protocol. You can use different physical NICs on both mobile and desktop and aggregate them to effectively combat network jitter and improve transmission quality.

To enable this feature, contact sales-us@agora.io.

3. Multi-channel management

This release adds a series of multi-channel related methods that you can call to manage audio stream in multi-channel scenarios.

• The muteLocalAudioStreamEx method is used to cancel or resume publishing a local audio stream.
• The muteAllRemoteAudioStreamsEx is used to cancel or resume the subscription of all remote users to audio stream.
• The startRtmpStreamWithoutTranscodingEx, startRtmpStreamWithTranscodingEx, updateRtmpTranscodingEx, and stopRtmpStreamEx methods are used to implement Media Push in multi-channel scenarios.
• The startChannelMediaRelayEx, updateChannelMediaRelayEx, pauseAllChannelMediaRelayEx, resumeAllChannelMediaRelayEx, and stopChannelMediaRelayEx methods are used to relay media streams across channels in multi-channel scenarios.
• Adds the leaveChannelEx [2/2] method. Compared with the leaveChannelEx [1/2] method, a new options parameter is added, which is used to choose whether to stop recording with the microphone when leaving a channel in a multi-channel scenario.

4. Client role switching

In order to enable users to know whether the switched user role is low-latency or ultra-low-latency, this release adds the newRoleOptions parameter to the onClientRoleChanged callback. The value of this parameter is as follows:

• AUDIENCE_LATENCY_LEVEL_LOW_LATENCY (1): Low latency.
• AUDIENCE_LATENCY_LEVEL_ULTRA_LOW_LATENCY (2): Ultra-low latency.

1. Bluetooth permissions

To simplify integration, as of this release, you can use the SDK to enable Android users to use Bluetooth normally without adding the BLUETOOTH_CONNECT permission.

2. Relaying media streams across channels

This release optimizes the updateChannelMediaRelay method as follows:

• Before v4.1.0: If the target channel update fails due to internal reasons in the server, the SDK returns the error code RELAY_EVENT_PACKET_UPDATE_DEST_CHANNEL_REFUSED(8), and you need to call the updateChannelMediaRelay method again.
• v4.1.0 and later: If the target channel update fails due to internal server reasons, the SDK retries the update until the target channel update is successful.

3. Reconstructed AIAEC algorithm

This release reconstructs the AEC algorithm based on the AI method. Compared with the traditional AEC algorithm, the new algorithm can preserve the complete, clear, and smooth near-end vocals under poor echo-to-signal conditions, significantly improving the system's echo cancellation and dual-talk performance. This gives users a more comfortable call and live-broadcast experience. AIAEC is suitable for conference calls, chats, karaoke, and other scenarios.

Other improvements

This release includes the following additional improvements:

• Reduces the latency when pushing external audio sources.
• Improves the performance of echo cancellation when using the AUDIO_SCENARIO_MEETING scenario.
• Enhances the ability to identify different network protocol stacks and improves the SDK's access capabilities in multiple-operator network scenarios.

This release fixed the following issues:

• Audience members heard buzzing noises when the host switched between speakers and earphones during live streaming.
• The call getExtensionProperty failed and returned an empty string.

Added

• setHeadphoneEQParameters

• leaveChannelEx [2/2]

• muteLocalAudioStreamEx

• muteAllRemoteAudioStreamsEx

• startRtmpStreamWithoutTranscodingEx

• startRtmpStreamWithTranscodingEx

• updateRtmpTranscodingEx

• stopRtmpStreamEx

• startChannelMediaRelayEx

• updateChannelMediaRelayEx

• pauseAllChannelMediaRelayEx

• resumeAllChannelMediaRelayEx

• stopChannelMediaRelayEx

• followEncodeDimensionRatio in CameraCapturerConfiguration

• newRoleOptions in onClientRoleChanged

• adjustUserPlaybackSignalVolumeEx

Deprecated

• onApiCallExecuted. Use the callbacks triggered by specific methods instead.

Deleted

• Removes RELAY_EVENT_PACKET_UPDATE_DEST_CHANNEL_REFUSED(8) in onChannelMediaRelayEvent callback

• The package manager download is listed as 4.1.0-1. This is the correct download for Voice SDK for Android v4.1.0.

v4.0.1 was released on September 29, 2022.

1. In-ear monitoring

This release adds getEarMonitoringAudioParams callback to set the audio data format of the in-ear monitoring. You can use your own audio effect processing module to pre-process the audio frame data of the in-ear monitoring to implement custom audio effects. After calling registerAudioFrameObserver to register the audio observer, set the audio data format in the return value of the getEarMonitoringAudioParams callback. The SDK calculates the sampling interval based on the return value of the callback, and triggers the onEarMonitoringAudioFrame callback based on the sampling interval.

2. Audio capture device test

This release adds support for testing local audio capture devices before joining channel. You can call startRecordingDeviceTest to start the audio capture device test. After the test is complete, call the stopPlaybackDeviceTest method to stop the audio capture device test.

3. Local network connection types

To make it easier for users to know the connection type of the local network at any stage, this release adds the getNetworkType method. You can use this method to get the type of network connection in use, including UNKNOWN, DISCONNECTED, LAN, WIFI, 2G, 3G, 4G, 5G. When the local network connection type changes, the SDK triggers the onNetworkTypeChanged callback to report the current network connection type.

4. Audio stream filter

This release introduces filtering audio streams based on volume. Once this function is enabled, the Agora server ranks all audio streams by volume and transports 3 audio streams with the highest volumes to the receivers by default. The number of audio streams to be transported can be adjusted; you can contact support@agora.io to adjust this number according to your scenarios.

Meanwhile, Agora supports publishers to choose whether or not the audio streams being published are to be filtered based on volume. Streams that are not filtered will bypass this filter mechanism and transported directly to the receivers. In scenarios where there are a number of publishers, enabling this function helps reducing the bandwidth and device system pressure for the receivers.

To enable this function, contact support@agora.io.

5. Spatial audio effect

This release adds the following features applicable to spatial audio effect scenarios, which can effectively enhance the user's sense of presence experience in virtual interactive scenarios.

• Sound insulation area: You can set a sound insulation area and sound attenuation parameter by calling setZones. When the sound source (which can be a user or the media player) and the listener belong to the inside and outside of the sound insulation area, the listner experiences an attenuation effect similar to that of the sound in the real environment when it encounters a building partition. You can also set the sound attenuation parameter for the media player and the user, respectively, by calling setPlayerAttenuation and setRemoteAudioAttenuation, and specify whether to use that setting to force an override of the sound attenuation paramter in setZones.
• Doppler sound: You can enable Doppler sound by setting the enable_doppler parameter in SpatialAudioParams, and the receiver experiences noticeable tonal changes in the event of a high-speed relative displacement between the source source and receiver (such as in a racing game scenario).
• Headphone equalizer: You can use a preset headphone equalization effect by calling the setHeadphoneEQPreset method to improve the hearing of the headphones.

This release fixed the following issues.

1. In online meeting scenarios, the local user and the remote user might not hear each other after the local user is interrupted by a call.
2. After calling setCloudProxy to set the cloud proxy, calling joinChannelEx to join multiple channels failed.

Added

• getEarMonitoringAudioParams
• stopRecordingDeviceTest
• stopRecordingDeviceTest
• getNetworkType
• isAudioFilterable in the ChannelMediaOptions
• setZones
• setPlayerAttenuation
• setRemoteAudioAttenuation
• muteRemoteAudioStream
• SpatialAudioParams
• setHeadphoneEQPreset
• HEADPHONE_EQUALIZER_PRESET

Deprecated

• startEchoTest [2/3]

v4.0.0 was released on September 15, 2022.

1. Integration change

This release has optimized the implementation of some features, resulting in incompatibility with v3.7.x. The following are the main features with compatibility changes:

• Multiple channel
• Media stream publishing control
• Warning codes

After upgrading the SDK, you need to update the code in your app according to your business scenarios. For details, see Migrate from v3.7.x to v4.x.

2. Callback exception handling

To facilitate troubleshooting, as of this release, the SDK no longer catches exceptions that are thrown by your own code implementation when triggering callbacks in the IRtcEngineEventHandler class. You need to catch and handle the exceptions yourself; otherwise, it can cause a crash.

1. Multiple media tracks

This release supports one RtcEngine instance to collect multiple audio sources at the same time and publish them to the remote users by setting RtcEngineEx and ChannelMediaOptions.

After calling joinChannel to join the first channel, call joinChannelEx multiple times to join multiple channels, and publish the specified stream to different channels through different user ID (localUid) and ChannelMediaOptions settings.

You can also experience the following features with the multi-channel capability:

• Publish multiple sets of audio streams to the remote users through different user IDs (uid).
• Mix multiple audio streams and publish to the remote users through a user ID (uid).

2. Agora media player

To make it easier for users to integrate the Agora SDK and reduce the SDK's package size, this release introduces the Agora media player. After calling the createMediaPlayer method to create a media player object, you can then call the methods in the IMediaPlayer class to experience a series of functions, such as playing local and online media files, preloading a media file, changing the CDN route for playing according to your network conditions, or sharing the audio streams being played with remote users.

3. Brand-new AI Noise Suppression

The SDK supports a new version of AI noise reduction (in comparison to the basic AI noise reduction in v3.7.x). The new AI noise reduction has better vocal fidelity, cleaner noise suppression, and adds a dereverberation option. To enable this feature, contact sales-us@agora.io.

4. Ultra-high audio quality

To make the audio clearer and restore more details, this release adds the ULTRA_HIGH_QUALITY_VOICE enumeration. In scenarios that mainly feature the human voice, such as chat or singing, you can call setVoiceBeautifierPreset and use this enumeration to experience ultra-high audio quality.

5. Spatial audio

This feature is in experimental status. To enable this feature, contact sales-us@agora.io. Contact technical support if needed.

You can set the spatial audio for the remote user as following:

• Local Cartesian Coordinate System Calculation: This solution uses the ILocalSpatialAudioEngine class to implement spatial audio by calculating the spatial coordinates of the remote user. You need to call updateSelfPosition and updateRemotePosition to update the spatial coordinates of the local and remote users, respectively, so that the local user can hear the spatial audio effect of the remote user.

You can also set the spatial audio for the media player as following:

• Local Cartesian Coordinate System Calculation: This solution uses the ILocalSpatialAudioEngine class to implement spatial audio. You need to call updateSelfPosition and updatePlayerPositionInfo to update the spatial coordinates of the local user and media player, respectively, so that the local user can hear the spatial audio effect of media player.

6. Real-time chorus

This release gives real-time chorus the following abilities:

• Two or more choruses are supported.
• Each singer is independent of each other. If one singer fails or quits the chorus, the other singers can continue to sing.
• Very low latency experience. Each singer can hear each other in real time, and the audience can also hear each singer in real time.

This release adds the AUDIO_SCENARIO_CHORUS enumeration. With this enumeration, users can experience ultra-low latency in real-time chorus when the network conditions are good.

7. Extensions from the Agora extensions marketplace

In order to enhance the real-time audio interactive activities based on the Agora SDK, this release supports the one-stop solution for the extensions from the Agora extensions marketplace:

• Easy to integrate: The integration of modular functions can be achieved simply by calling an API, and the integration efficiency is improved by nearly 95%.
• Extensibility design: The modular and extensible SDK design style endows the Agora SDK with good extensibility, which enables developers to quickly build real-time interactive apps based on the Agora extensions marketplace ecosystem.
• Build an ecosystem: A community of real-time audio and video apps has developed that can accommodate a wide range of developers, offering a variety of extension combinations. After integrating the extensions, developers can build richer real-time interactive functions. For details, see Use an Extension.
• Become a vendor: Vendors can integrate their products with Agora SDK in the form of extensions, display and publish them in the Agora extensions marketplace, and build a real-time interactive ecosystem for developers together with Agora. For details on how to develop and publish extensions, see Become a Vendor.

8. Enhanced channel management

To meet the channel management requirements of various business scenarios, this release adds the following functions to the ChannelMediaOptions structure:

• Sets or switches the publishing of multiple audio sources.
• Sets or switches channel profile and user role.
• Controls audio publishing delay.

Set ChannelMediaOptions when calling joinChannel or joinChannelEx to specify the publishing and subscription behavior of a media stream, for example, whether to subscribe to the audio streams of remote users. After joining the channel, call updateChannelMediaOptions to update the settings in ChannelMediaOptions at any time, for example, to switch the published audio sources.

9. Subscription allowlists and blocklists

This release introduces subscription allowlists and blocklists for remote audio streams. You can add a user ID that you want to subscribe to in your allowlist, or add a user ID for the streams you do not wish to see to your blocklists. You can experience this feature through the following APIs, and in scenarios that involve multiple channels, you can call the following methods in the RtcEngineEx interface:

• setSubscribeAudioBlacklist：Set the audio subscription blocklist.
• setSubscribeAudioWhitelist：Set the audio subscription allowlist.

If a user is added in a blocklist and a allowlist at the same time, only the blocklist takes effect.

10. Set audio scenarios

To make it easier to change audio scenarios, this release adds the setAudioScenario method. For example, if you want to change the audio scenario from AUDIO_SCENARIO_DEFAULT to AUDIO_SCENARIO_GAME_STREAMING when you are in a channel, you can call this method.

1. Fast channel switching

This release can achieve the same switching speed as switchChannel in v3.7.x through the leaveChannel and joinChannel methods so that you don't need to take the time to call the switchChannel method.

2. Voice pitch of the local user This release adds voicePitch in AudioVolumeInfo of onAudioVolumeIndication. You can use voicePitch to get the local user's voice pitch and perform business functions such as rating for singing.

3. Device permission management

This release adds the onPermissionError method, which is automatically reported when the audio capture device or camera does not obtain the appropriate permission. You can enable the corresponding device permission according to the prompt of the callback.

• After you enable Notifications, your server receives the events that you subscribe to in the form of HTTPS requests.
• To improve communication security between the Notifications and your server, Agora SD-RTN™ uses signatures for identity verification.
• As of this release, you can use Notifications in conjunction with this product.

Agora charges additionally for this extension. See Pricing.

This release improves the calculation performance of the AI-powered noise suppression algorithm.

This release adds the following APIs and parameters:

• APIs:
  • checkCompatibility: Checks whether the AI Noise Suppression extension is supported on the current browser.
  • setMode: Sets the noise suppression mode as AI noise suppression or stationary noise suppression.
  • setLevel: Sets the AI noise suppression level.
• Parameters:
  • elapsedTime in onoverload: Reports the time in ms that the extension needs to process one audio frame.

For API details, see AI Noise Suppression.

This release brings the following changes:

• AI Noise Suppression supports Agora Video SDK for Web v4.15.0 or later.
• The extension has Wasm dependencies only. Because JS dependencies are removed, you need to publish the Wasm files located in the node_modules/agora-extension-ai-denoiser/external directory again. If you have enabled the Content Security Policy (CSP), you need to modify the CSP configuration. See AI Noise Suppression for details.
• The audio data is dumped in PCM format instead of WAV format.
• To adjust the intensity of noise suppression, best practice is to call setLevel.

First release.