Zoom Video SDK - Windows Development

Expert guidance for developing with the Zoom Video SDK on Windows. This SDK enables custom video applications, raw media capture/injection, cloud recording, live streaming, and real-time transcription on Windows platforms.

Official Documentation: https://developers.zoom.us/docs/video-sdk/windows/ API Reference: https://marketplacefront.zoom.us/sdk/custom/windows/ Sample Repository: https://github.com/zoom/videosdk-windows-rawdata-sample

Quick Links

New to Video SDK? Follow this path:

1. SDK Architecture Pattern - Universal 3-step pattern for ANY feature
2. Session Join Pattern - Complete working code to join a session
3. Windows Message Loop - CRITICAL: Fix callbacks not firing
4. Video Rendering - Display video with Canvas API

Reference:

• Singleton Hierarchy - 5-level SDK navigation map
• API Reference - Methods, error codes, timing rules
• Delegate Methods - All 80+ callback methods
• Sample Applications - Official samples guide
• windows.md - Secondary overview doc (pointer-style)
• SKILL.md - Complete documentation navigation

Having issues?

• Callbacks not firing → Windows Message Loop
• Build errors → Build Errors Guide
• Video subscribe fails → Video Rendering (subscribe in onUserVideoStatusChanged)
• Quick diagnostics → Common Issues

Building a Custom UI?

• Canvas vs Raw Data - Choose your rendering approach
• Raw Video Capture - YUV420 frame processing

SDK Overview

The Zoom Video SDK for Windows is a C++ library that provides:

• Session Management: Join/leave video SDK sessions
• Raw Data Access: Capture raw audio/video frames (YUV420, PCM)
• Raw Data Injection: Send custom audio/video into sessions
• Screen Sharing: Share screens or inject custom share sources
• Cloud Recording: Record sessions to Zoom cloud
• Live Streaming: Stream to RTMP endpoints (YouTube, etc.)
• Chat & Commands: In-session messaging and command channels
• Live Transcription: Real-time speech-to-text
• Subsessions: Breakout room support
• Whiteboard: Collaborative whiteboard features
• Annotations: Screen share annotations
• C# Integration: C++/CLI wrapper for .NET applications

Prerequisites

System Requirements

• OS: Windows 10 (1903 or later) or Windows 11
• Architecture: x64 (recommended), x86, or ARM64
• Visual Studio: 2019 or 2022 (Community, Professional, or Enterprise)
• Windows SDK: 10.0.19041.0 or later
• .NET Framework: 4.8 or later (for C# applications)

Visual Studio Workloads

Install these workloads via Visual Studio Installer:

1. Desktop development with C++

   • MSVC v142 or v143 compiler
   • Windows 10/11 SDK
   • C++ CMake tools (optional)

2. .NET desktop development (for C# applications)

   • .NET Framework 4.8 targeting pack
   • C++/CLI support

Quick Start

C++ Application

#include <windows.h>
#include "zoom_video_sdk_api.h"
#include "zoom_video_sdk_interface.h"
#include "zoom_video_sdk_delegate_interface.h"

USING_ZOOM_VIDEO_SDK_NAMESPACE

// 1. Create SDK object
IZoomVideoSDK* video_sdk_obj = CreateZoomVideoSDKObj();

// 2. Initialize
ZoomVideoSDKInitParams init_params;
init_params.domain = L"https://zoom.us";
init_params.enableLog = true;
init_params.logFilePrefix = L"zoom_win_video";
init_params.videoRawDataMemoryMode = ZoomVideoSDKRawDataMemoryModeHeap;

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