While standard web conferencing software is designed to facilitate remote audio and video communication, it has too much latency for live musical performance.
[1][2] Connection-oriented Internet protocols subject audio signals to delays and other interference which presents a problem for keeping latency low enough for musicians to play together remotely.
[3][4][5] Software created specifically to minimise or eliminate some of the issues with Internet-related audio latency enables musicians to perform live music together over domestic broadband connections.
The use of various compression and other techniques, together with affordable low-latency audio interface hardware (which most of the systems listed here are also optimised to work with), has reached a state in which it is practical for even large numbers of musicians to play or sing together without experiencing significant problems.
[6][7][8] The following table compares key features of software written for the expressed purpose of allowing musicians to perform music together over the Internet.