Ventrilo is a widely used Voice over IP (VoIP) group communications software tool. It can also be used for online games. Similar to Teamspeak, they are two of the most popular VoIP program for online computer games.
By offering surround sound positioning and special sound effects on a per user, per channel, per server or global configuration level, the program provides each User the option to fully customize sounds from other Users or events.
Ventrilo is best known for its superior sound quality and minimal use of CPU resources so as not to interfere with normal operations of the computer or during online game competitions. It is also preferred for the simple User interface that any first time computer User can very quickly learn because the most commonly used features are immediately visible and can be activated with a single click of the mouse.
Ventrilo uses a client-server based connection that is always encrypted. User data is never collected or stored, hence it can not be shared/sold to external entities. All text-chat communications/audio-recordings are stored locally on the Client computer.
Ventrilo Servers are hosted in secure data-centers located world-wide. The use of data-centers provides for security, power backup, sufficient internet bandwidth, and maximum uptime.
Ventrilo Main Features
- Voice communication with multiple Users and/or multiple servers.
- Configurable Cross-channel communications.
- Phantom Users for ‘listening-only’ on other channels.
- User-to-User private conversations, both voice and text.
- Individual channels that can be created dynamically.
- Channel ‘Invisible-Transmit’ option.
- Sub channels.
- Muted channels.
- Queued channels.
- Channel transmit time limits.
- Channel client limits.
- Channel feature filtering.
- Ranking option per-channel to limit which Users can transmit.
- Password protected server/channel login option.
- Advanced server/channel control options and filters.
- Individual Admin passwords for channels.
- Text-to-speech (TTS) voice generation.
- Key binding to execute special program functions, play wave files, send TTS messages plus more.
- Separate phonetic spelling of User and channel names for proper TTS.
- Built in chat similar to IRC, either per-server or per-channel.
- Users can enter dynamic comments or hyperlinks for all other Users to see.
- User assigned names for server connections. No need to remember IP numbers.
- Internet SRV record support. No need to know IPaddress or port#.
- Wave file or TTS event notifications for program events.
- Remote administration of server features and current Users.
- Remote administration of persistent server properties.
- Mute Microphone and Mute Sound with key binds for both.
- User adjustable sound effects.
- Persistent mute states for specific Users on a given server.
- Persistent channel Admin passwords.
- Persistent special effects including surround sound for Users, channels, servers, global.
- Built in server browser.
- Ability to record and playback voice streams.
- Voice-Activation or Push-To-Talk transmission modes.
- Ducking option for both Voice-Activation and PTT. Ducking allows system audio to be lowered when either transmitting and/or receiving in Ventrilo.
- Binds to change channels or cycle through all available channels.
- Multiple platform support for servers.
- Multiple platform support for clients.
- Ability to restrict Server Admin features. Useful for hosting services.
- Server and/or channel specified codecs to control voice quality and bandwidth usage.
- User customization of display modes.
- Graphic support for Logitech G15/G19 displays.
- Support for G-keys on Logitech Keyboards and G35/G930 Headsets.
- Separate audio device selection for voice, binds, and speech events for systems with multiple audio devices.
- Option to display song information from WMP, Winamp, iTunes, and Spotify(Macintosh).
Download
Download Ventrilo for Windows and Mac from its official website here.