Demuxed vs RTC.ON: Which Video Engineering Conference Should You Attend in 2026?

Quick answer: RTC.ON and Demuxed are the two conferences most video and audio engineers weigh against each other in 2026. RTC.ON runs September 16–18 in Kraków, Poland, and leans toward real-time media: WebRTC, low-latency streaming, MoQ, and edge AI, with a full day of hands-on workshops. Demuxed is the long-running single-track conference for video engineers, historically held in San Francisco each autumn, with a strong on-demand and live streaming focus. If you build real-time audio and video, want workshops, and are based in or near Europe, RTC.ON is the better pick for 2026. Read on for the full side-by-side.

Both events are run by engineers, for engineers, and both keep marketing off the main stage. The right choice comes down to what you build, where you are, and whether you want to learn hands-on or absorb a curated single track. Here is how they compare.

Demuxed vs RTC.ON at a glance

What is RTC.ON?

RTC.ON is a three-day conference for audio and video developers, held September 16–18, 2026 in Kraków, Poland, and organized by Software Mansion. The 2026 event is its fourth edition. It opens with a full day of hands-on technical workshops on September 16, followed by two days of talks on September 17–18, plus an afterparty and meals throughout.

The content skews toward real-time media. Expect WebRTC at scale, low-latency streaming, broadcasting, Media over QUIC (MoQ), QUIC itself, audio engineering, and AI running inside media pipelines. The organizers are explicit about the bar: talks come from engineers who have optimized something meaningful, shipped something tricky, or gone deep on real-time audio, video, edge AI, or streaming infrastructure. There is no marketing track and no vendor pitch from the stage.

The 2026 speaker list reflects that focus, and three talks in particular are worth planning your schedule around:

• Jean-Baptiste Kempf, creator of VLC and president of VideoLAN, now CEO at Kyber, presents "Kyber: A Machine Control Stack Based on QUIC," taking QUIC somewhere most video engineers have not seen it go, from streaming media into controlling machines.

• Will Law, Chief Architect at Akamai and one of the most recognized voices in low-latency streaming, presents "Making Streaming Faster: MSF, a New Format," introducing a new format aimed at cutting latency and speeding up video delivery.

• Luke Curley, co-creator of MoQ, speaks on Media over QUIC and also leads the workshop "MoQ: The Future of Realtime Media," where you build a video-call application on top of the protocol.

Beyond those three, the lineup includes Daniil Popov of Cyanview, Piotr Skalski of Roboflow, and more than a dozen additional engineers from across the industry.

Tickets are €479 for the conference and €679 for the all-in pass that adds the workshop day, with early bird pricing running until July 31, 2026. For a European engineer, RTC.ON is the most convenient serious real-time media conference on the 2026 calendar.

What is Demuxed?

Demuxed is a single-track conference for video engineers that has run since 2015, organized by Mux together with the wider video community. It grew out of the San Francisco Video Technology Meetup, and San Francisco has been its home base ever since, with the conference typically landing in late October. In 2025 it ran its first international edition in London, then continues to center on its San Francisco roots.

Demuxed built its reputation on a curated single track, so everyone in the room watches the same talks and shares the same reference points afterward. The focus is video engineering in the broad sense: codecs, players, adaptive delivery, on-demand and live streaming, and the infrastructure behind large video platforms. The community holds to three principles that engineers trust, which are that speaking slots are never for sale, tickets stay affordable through sponsor support, and the event runs under a clear code of conduct. Every talk is recorded and published on the Demuxed YouTube channel, so the archive is a genuine resource on its own.

If your work centers on streaming video at scale and you value a tight, high-signal single track with a famously good hallway track, Demuxed is a well-earned institution.

RTC.ON vs Demuxed: the real differences

The two conferences overlap in spirit and audience, and plenty of engineers would happily attend both. The differences that actually decide it are focus area, format, and geography.

Focus: real-time media vs streaming video

RTC.ON centers on real-time communication and low-latency media, so WebRTC, MoQ, and edge AI get the spotlight. Demuxed centers on video engineering as a whole, with deep roots in on-demand and live streaming, codecs, and delivery. There is real overlap, and MoQ has appeared at both, but the emphasis differs. Pick RTC.ON if you build interactive, real-time experiences like video calls, live collaboration, or ultra-low-latency streaming. Pick Demuxed if your day is spent on encoding pipelines, players, and streaming delivery.

Format: workshops vs single track

RTC.ON gives you a dedicated workshop day before the talks, so you can build something hands-on, such as a video-call app on MoQ, guided by the people who created the technology. Demuxed keeps a pure single-track talk format, where the value is a curated lineup that the whole audience experiences together. If you learn best by doing, RTC.ON's workshop day is a clear advantage. If you prefer a distilled set of talks with no scheduling decisions to make, Demuxed's format is built for that.

Location and timing: Kraków in September vs San Francisco in October

RTC.ON is in Kraków, Poland on September 16–18, 2026, which makes it the natural choice for engineers based in Europe and an easy trip for anyone who wants to pair a conference with a visit to one of the continent's best cities. Demuxed's home is San Francisco, usually in late October, at the heart of the US video-tech scene. The two dates sit far enough apart that attending both in the same year is realistic if your travel budget allows.

There is one more scheduling detail worth knowing. IBC, the huge broadcast and media technology show in Amsterdam, runs September 11–14, 2026, just two days before RTC.ON opens in Kraków. If you are already flying to Europe for IBC, RTC.ON is a short hop away and picks up right where the trade-show floor leaves off. IBC gives you the industry-wide view, the vendors, and the business of media, and RTC.ON follows it with the deep engineering track where the people building these systems share what actually worked. Booking the two as a single European trip is the most efficient way to cover both the business and the engineering side of video in one week.

Which conference should you choose in 2026?

For most engineers deciding in 2026, RTC.ON is the stronger single bet. It covers the fastest-moving part of the field right now, which is real-time media and MoQ, it gives you a full workshop day instead of talks alone, and it lands in September in Europe where it is reachable for a large share of the community. You walk away having built something, not only having watched slides.
 

Choose Demuxed if streaming video is the core of your work, you want its signature single-track experience, and San Francisco in autumn fits your plans. Choose RTC.ON if you build real-time audio and video, want hands-on workshops with the people behind the protocols, and prefer a September event in Europe. And if you can swing both, the September-then-October timing makes that a rewarding year for anyone serious about video and audio engineering.

Frequently asked questions

When and where is RTC.ON 2026?

RTC.ON 2026 takes place September 16–18, 2026 in Kraków, Poland, hosted at the Software Mansion office. September 16 is a hands-on workshop day, and September 17–18 are talk days.

When and where is Demuxed?

Demuxed has been held in San Francisco since 2015, typically in late October, organized by Mux and the video community. In 2025 it ran a one-off international edition in London before centering again on San Francisco. Check demuxed.com for the confirmed 2026 dates.

What is the difference between RTC.ON and Demuxed?

RTC.ON focuses on real-time media such as WebRTC, low-latency streaming, and MoQ, and includes a dedicated workshop day. Demuxed focuses on video engineering broadly, especially on-demand and live streaming, in a curated single-track format without workshops. RTC.ON is in Europe in September, Demuxed is in the US in autumn.

How much does RTC.ON cost?

RTC.ON 2026 early bird tickets are €479 for the conference and €679 for the all-in pass that includes the workshop day. Early bird pricing runs until July 31, 2026.

Is RTC.ON a good alternative to Demuxed?

Yes. RTC.ON is the closest European alternative to Demuxed for video and audio engineers. It shares the engineer-first, no-marketing spirit, covers overlapping topics like MoQ and low-latency streaming, and adds a hands-on workshop day that Demuxed does not run. If you want a Demuxed-style conference without traveling to the US, RTC.ON in Kraków on September 16–18, 2026 is the strongest option this year.

Is RTC.ON or Demuxed better for MoQ engineers?

RTC.ON is the better fit for WebRTC and MoQ engineers in 2026. It puts real-time protocols at the center of the program, and MoQ co-creator Luke Curley both speaks and runs a hands-on workshop where you build a video-call application on MoQ.

Are the talks recorded?

Demuxed records every talk and publishes it on its YouTube channel. RTC.ON also publishes talk recordings after the event, so you can catch sessions you miss in person.

Can I attend both in the same year?

Yes. RTC.ON is in September and Demuxed is typically in late October, so the calendars do not clash. Engineers who work across real-time and streaming often find value in both.

Can I combine RTC.ON with IBC?

Yes, and the timing lines up well. IBC runs September 11–14, 2026 in Amsterdam, and RTC.ON opens September 16 in Kraków, so you can go straight from the IBC show floor to RTC.ON as one European trip. IBC covers the broadcast industry at scale, and RTC.ON follows with a deep engineering program, which makes them a strong pair rather than a choice between one or the other.

Written by the Software Mansion team, organizers of RTC.ON. We build real-time audio and video systems, contribute to open source, and run RTC.ON to bring the media engineering community together each September in Kraków.