TightVNC is a
free and open-source
Free and open-source software (FOSS) is a term used to refer to groups of software consisting of both free software and open-source software where anyone is freely licensed to use, copy, study, and change the software in any way, and the source ...
remote desktop software
In computing, the term remote desktop refers to a software- or operating system feature that allows a personal computer's desktop environment to be run remotely off of one system (usually a PC, but the concept applies equally to a server or a ...
server and client application for
Linux
Linux ( or ) is a family of open-source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991, by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged as a Linux distribution, which ...
and
Windows
Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for serv ...
. A server for
macOS
macOS (; previously OS X and originally Mac OS X) is a Unix operating system developed and marketed by Apple Inc. since 2001. It is the primary operating system for Apple's Mac computers. Within the market of desktop and lapt ...
is available under a
commercial
Commercial may refer to:
* a dose of advertising conveyed through media (such as - for example - radio or television)
** Radio advertisement
** Television advertisement
* (adjective for:) commerce, a system of voluntary exchange of products and s ...
source code license only, without SDK or binary version provided. Constantin Kaplinsky developed TightVNC, using and extending the
RFB protocol
RFB ("remote framebuffer") is an open simple protocol for remote access to graphical user interfaces. Because it works at the framebuffer level it is applicable to all windowing systems and applications, including Microsoft Windows, macOS and th ...
of
Virtual Network Computing
Virtual Network Computing (VNC) is a graphical desktop-sharing system that uses the Remote Frame Buffer protocol (RFB) to remotely control another computer. It transmits the keyboard and mouse input from one computer to another, relaying the g ...
(VNC) to allow end-users to control another computer's screen remotely.
Encodings
TightVNC uses so-called "tight encoding" of areas, which improves performance over low bandwidth connection. It is effectively a combination of the
JPEG
JPEG ( ) is a commonly used method of lossy compression for digital images, particularly for those images produced by digital photography. The degree of compression can be adjusted, allowing a selectable tradeoff between storage size and imag ...
and
zlib
zlib ( or "zeta-lib", ) is a software library used for data compression. zlib was written by Jean-loup Gailly and Mark Adler and is an abstraction of the DEFLATE compression algorithm used in their gzip file compression program. zlib is also a ...
compression mechanisms. It is possible to watch videos and play DirectX games through TightVNC over a broadband connection, albeit at a low frame rate.
TightVNC includes many other common features of VNC derivatives, such as file transfer capability.
Compatibility
TightVNC is cross-compatible with other client and server implementations of VNC; however, tight encoding is not supported by most other implementations, so it is necessary to use TightVNC at both ends to gain the full advantage of its enhancements.
Among notable enhancements are file transfers, support for the DemoForge DFMirage mirror driver (a type of virtual display driver) to detect screen updates (saves CPU time and increases the performance of TightVNC), ability to zoom the picture and automatic SSH tunneling on Unix.
Since the 2.0 beta, TightVNC supports auto scaling, which resizes the viewer window to the remote users desktop size, regardless of the resolution of the host computer.
TightVNC 1.3.10, released in March 2009, is the last version to support Linux/Unix. This version is still often used in guides to set up VNC for Linux.
Derived software
RemoteVNC
RemoteVNC is a fork of the TightVNC project and adds automatic traversal of
NAT
Nat or NAT may refer to:
Computing
* Network address translation (NAT), in computer networking
Organizations
* National Actors Theatre, New York City, U.S.
* National AIDS trust, a British charity
* National Archives of Thailand
* National As ...
and
firewalls using
Jingle
A jingle is a short song or tune used in advertising and for other commercial uses. Jingles are a form of sound branding. A jingle contains one or more hooks and meaning that explicitly promote the product or service being advertised, usually t ...
. It requires a GMail account.
TightVNC Portable Edition
The developers have also produced a
portable
Portable may refer to:
General
* Portable building, a manufactured structure that is built off site and moved in upon completion of site and utility work
* Portable classroom, a temporary building installed on the grounds of a school to provide a ...
version of the software, available as both
U3 and standalone downloads.
TurboVNC
TurboVNC
VirtualGL is an open-source software package that redirects the 3D rendering commands from Unix and Linux OpenGL applications to 3D accelerator hardware in a dedicated server and sends the rendered output to a (thin) client located elsewhere on t ...
is based on the TightVNC 1.3.x, xf4vnc, X.org, and TigerVNC code bases and includes numerous performance enhancements and features targeted at 3D and video workloads.
TigerVNC
TigerVNC
TigerVNC is an open source Virtual Network Computing (VNC) server and client software, started as a fork of TightVNC in 2009. The client supports Windows, Linux and macOS. The server supports Linux. There is no server for macOS and the Windows ser ...
is VNC server and client software, started as a fork of TightVNC in 2009, after three years of inactivity in TightVNC trunk. It also takes some code from TurboVNC.
See also
*
Comparison of remote desktop software
This page is a comparison of notable remote desktop software available for various platforms.
Remote desktop software
Operating system support
Features
Terminology
In the table above, the following terminology is intended to be u ...
*
RFB protocol
RFB ("remote framebuffer") is an open simple protocol for remote access to graphical user interfaces. Because it works at the framebuffer level it is applicable to all windowing systems and applications, including Microsoft Windows, macOS and th ...
References
External links
*
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tightvnc
Cross-platform software
Free network-related software
Free software programmed in C
Free software programmed in C++
Free software programmed in Java (programming language)
Portable software
Remote administration software
Remote desktop
Remote desktop software for Linux
Virtual Network Computing