Article · Wikipedia archive · Last revised Jun 25, 2026

TightVNC

TightVNC is a free and open-source remote desktop software server and client application for Linux and Windows. A server for macOS is available under a commercial source code license only, without SDK or binary version provided. Constantin Kaplinsky developed TightVNC, using and extending the RFB protocol of Virtual Network Computing (VNC) to allow end-users to control another computer's screen remotely.

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TightVNC
Initial releasev1.0 / 2001 (2001)1
Stable release
Linux: 1.3.1023 Edit this on Wikidata (6 March 2009 (6 March 2009))
Windows: 2.8.874 Edit this on Wikidata (30 March 2026 (30 March 2026))
Written inC, C++, Java5
Operating systemMicrosoft Windows, Linux
Available inEnglish5
TypeRemote administration
LicenseGPL-2.0-or-later
Websitetightvnc.com

TightVNC is a free and open-source remote desktop software server and client application for Linux and Windows. A server for macOS is available under a commercial source code license only, without SDK or binary version provided.6 Constantin Kaplinsky developed TightVNC,7 using and extending the RFB protocol of Virtual Network Computing (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 and zlib compression mechanisms.89 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.10

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.11 This version is still often used in guides to set up VNC for Linux.1213

Derived software

RemoteVNC

RemoteVNC is a fork of the TightVNC project and adds automatic traversal of NAT and firewalls using Jingle. It requires a GMail account.

TightVNC Portable Edition

The developers have also produced a portable version of the software,14 available as both U3 and standalone downloads.

TurboVNC

TurboVNC 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.1516

TigerVNC

TigerVNC 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.17

See also

See also

References

References

  1. "All releases of TightVNC - Freecode".
  2. "TightVNC News". Retrieved 28 August 2019.
  3. "TightVNC 1.3.10 released". 6 March 2009. Retrieved 28 August 2019.
  4. "TightVNC News". 30 March 2026. Retrieved 27 May 2026.
  5. "SourceForge.net: TightVNC". 23 April 2024.
  6. Server for macOS
  7. Wolf, Chris (2003). "4: Monitoring and Diagnostic Tools". Troubleshooting Microsoft Technologies: The Ultimate Administrator's Repair Manual. The Addison-Wesley Microsoft Technology Series. Boston: Addison-Wesley Professional. p. 121. ISBN 9780321133458. Retrieved 2017-03-22. TightVNC (www.tightvnc.com) is an improved version of AT&T's Virtual Network Computing (VNC) Viewer that was spearheaded by Constantin Kaplinsky.
  8. "TightVNC". Fedora Project.
  9. "Comparison Results". TightVNC. Archived from the original on 2004-03-13.
  10. "Introduction to TightVNC".
  11. "TightVNC: 1.3.10 released (SourceForge)".
  12. "How to Install and Configure VNC on Ubuntu 20.04".
  13. "How to install a VNC server on Linux". 15 October 2024.
  14. "TightVNC Portable Edition".
  15. "User's Guide for TurboVNC".
  16. "What About TigerVNC?". turbovnc.org.
  17. Åstrand, Peter (2009-02-27). "Open Letter: Leaving TightVNC, Founding TigerVNC". TightVNC mailing list. Retrieved 2014-02-10.
External links