noVNC is a browser-based VNC client that allows users to access remote desktops without installing a dedicated desktop application. It uses standard web technologies to display the remote computer’s screen and relay keyboard and mouse input through a browser.
The software can be used as a complete web application or integrated into other projects through its JavaScript library. It is particularly useful for browser-based administration interfaces, virtual machine consoles, and remote access services.
noVNC communicates using the VNC protocol over WebSockets. When a VNC server does not support WebSockets directly, the accompanying websockify proxy can bridge the connection. This allows noVNC to work with a wide range of existing VNC servers.
This is free and open source software.
Key Features
- Provides remote desktop access through modern desktop and mobile web browsers.
- Supports standard VNC servers through WebSockets, with websockify available for servers that require a TCP-to-WebSocket proxy.
- Includes both a standalone web application and a JavaScript library for integration into other software.
- Supports VNC authentication methods including classical VNC, Tight, VeNCrypt Plain, XVP, RealVNC RSA-AES, Apple Diffie-Hellman, and UltraVNC MSLogonII.
- Supports VNC encodings including Raw, CopyRect, RRE, Hextile, Tight, TightPNG, ZRLE, JPEG, Zlib, and H.264.
- Offers display scaling, viewport clipping, and remote desktop resizing where supported by the server.
- Provides view-only mode for observing remote desktops without transmitting keyboard or mouse input.
- Supports mouse buttons, local cursor rendering, and configurable keyboard focus behaviour.
- Includes clipboard copy and paste with full Unicode support.
- Provides touchscreen gestures that emulate mouse actions on mobile devices.
- Offers configurable image quality and compression settings to balance performance and bandwidth usage.
- Supports encrypted WebSocket connections when the server or proxy is configured for TLS.
- Provides translations for users working in different languages.
- Exposes a JavaScript API for managing connections, authentication, display behaviour, clipboard interaction, and connection events.
Website: github.com/novnc/novnc
Support:
Developer: noVNC Developers
License: Mozilla Public License v2.0
noVNC is written in JavaScript. Learn JavaScript with our recommended free books and free tutorials.
Related Software
| Remote Display Clients | |
|---|---|
| TigerVNC | Platform-neutral implementation of VNC |
| Remmina | GTK+/Gnome Remote Desktop Client |
| KRDC | Connect with RDP or VNC to another computer |
| X2Go | Fast terminal server suite based on NoMachine's NX libraries |
| RustDesk | Works out of the box with no configuration required |
| Veyon | Computer monitoring and classroom management |
| TurboVNC | TightVNC-compatible remote desktop software |
| FreeRDP | Remote Desktop Protocol Implementation |
| Waypipe | Forward individual Wayland applications over SSH connections |
| Moonlight Qt | Stream games and desktop applications from remote computers |
| noVNC | VNC client web application |
| Connections | Aims at replacing Vinagre as the remote desktop client for GNOME |
| Xpra | Multi-platform persistent remote display server with built-in HTML5 client |
| Guacamole | Clientless remote desktop gateway |
| Dayon! | Easy to use, cross-platform remote desktop assistance solution |
| RustConn | Connection orchestrator for Linux with a GTK4/Wayland-native interface |
| electerm | Terminal emulator supporting SSH, SFTP and RDP connections |
| HopToDesk | Remote desktop tool with end-to-end encryption |
| Field Monitor | Remote desktop client designed for GNOME |
Read our verdict in the software roundup.
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