Selkies is a Linux-native remote desktop and application streaming platform that uses WebRTC and an HTML5 client to deliver low-latency access to Linux X11 desktops from a modern web browser.
It’s aimed at self-hosted deployments on workstations, servers, containers, Kubernetes clusters, and Cloud/HPC environments, with a strong focus on interactive graphical workloads, remote applications, and GPU-accelerated sessions.
This is free and open source software.
Key Features
- Streams Linux X11 desktops and applications to a web browser using WebRTC and an HTML5 interface.
- Supports self-hosted deployment on desktops, containers, Kubernetes, and Cloud/HPC platforms.
- Uses GPU hardware acceleration where available, with software fallbacks and support for codecs including H.264, H.265, VP8, VP9, and AV1.
- Includes audio streaming plus browser-side features such as fullscreen mode, remote cursor lock, and clipboard data exchange.
- Works well behind a web server or reverse proxy and can operate through a single HTTP web interface.
- Uses a modular GStreamer-based architecture that’s designed to be portable and extensible.
- Can be installed in userspace without depending on systemd, which helps with shared and unprivileged environments.
Website: github.com/selkies-project/selkies
Support:
Developer: Selkies Project
License: Mozilla Public License 2.0
Selkies is written in Python and JavaScript. Learn Python with our recommended free books and free tutorials. Learn JavaScript with our recommended free books and free tutorials.
Related Software
| WebRTC Tools | |
|---|---|
| mediasoup | Server-side WebRTC library, specifically a Selective Forwarding Unit (SFU |
| Pion | Modern stack for web real-time communication |
| Jitsi | Innovative voice and video conferencing |
| LiveKit | End-to-end stack for WebRTC |
| OpenVidu | Platform to develop WebRTC real-time applications |
| Janus | Gneral purpose WebRTC server |
| aiortc | Library for WebRTC and ORTC |
| coturn | Implementation of TURN and STUN Server |
| Galene | Easy to deploy videoconference server |
| libpeer | Portable WebRTC library for IoT/embedded devices |
| libdatachannel | WebRTC network library |
| Kurento | WebRTC media server |
| str0m | Sans I/O WebRTC implementation |
| Elixir WebRTC | Elixir implementation of the W3C WebRTC API |
Read our verdict in the software roundup.
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