Zoom System Design (Coming Soon - Draft Copy)

Designing a system like Zoom is fundamentally about real-time media delivery at massive scale.
The core challenge is low-latency audio/video communication across millions of concurrent users.

Functional Requirements

Core Features

• One-to-one calls
• Group calls / conference calls
• Audio / video / screen sharing
• Creating a meeting
• Starting / ending a meeting (host or any participant)
• Joining / leaving a meeting (any participant)
• Call recording
• Fetching meeting details

Out of Scope (for this design)

• Chat (optional)
• Mute / unmute controls
• Inviting / managing participants
• Raising a hand

We intentionally exclude collaboration-layer features to focus on the real-time media architecture.

Non-Functional Requirements

• Real-time experience
  Conversations should feel natural — no noticeable lag or delay.

• Always available
  Calls should work reliably, even if some servers or regions fail.

• Minor packet loss is acceptable
  Small glitches are okay; real-time delivery matters more than perfect accuracy.

• Secure by default
  All calls must be encrypted and accessible only to authenticated users.

• Handles unstable networks
  Users should reconnect automatically if their internet drops.

• Works across devices & bandwidths
  Quality must adapt dynamically for mobile, desktop, slow WiFi, or high-speed broadband.