What are the 5 parts of video conferencing equipment?

A typical video conferencing setup includes five core components that work together to deliver an effective collaboration experience:

  • Camera – Captures video of participants in the room. Cameras can range from simple webcams to advanced PTZ (pan-tilt-zoom) or intelligent cameras with features like speaker tracking and auto-framing.

  • Microphone – Picks up participants’ voices. Depending on the room size, this could be an integrated mic, a table mic, ceiling mic, or even an array of beamforming microphones to ensure clarity across the space.

  • Speakers – Output the audio from remote participants. These can be in-built, wall-mounted, or part of the room’s AV system, and should be positioned for even sound coverage.

  • Display – Shows remote participants, shared content, and meeting interfaces. This might be a single screen in a small room, or dual (or more) displays in larger or multifunctional spaces.

  • Codec or Computing Device – The ‘brain’ of the system, processing audio, video, and content sharing. This could be a dedicated video codec (common in systems like Cisco and Poly), or a compute device running software like Microsoft Teams Rooms or Zoom Rooms.

These components may vary depending on the environment—smaller spaces might use all-in-one devices, while larger rooms typically require more custom integration.