Videotelephony
reception and transmission of audio-video signals by users at different locations
Videotelephony, also known as video chat, videoconferencing, video calling, or telepresence, is the use of audio and video for simultaneous two-way communication.
Videophones were standalone devices for video calling (compare Telephone). As smartphones and computers have become capable of video calling, the demand for a separate category of videophones has disappeared.
Videoconferencing implies group communication and is used in telepresence, the goal of which is to create the illusion that remote participants are in the same room.
The concept of videotelephony was conceived in the late 19th century, and versions were demonstrated to the public starting in the 1930s. In April, 1930, reporters gathered at AT&T corporate headquarters on Broadway in New York City for the first public demonstration of two-way video telephony. The event linked the headquarters building with a Bell laboratories building on West Street. Early demonstrations were installed at booths in post offices and shown at world expositions. AT&T demonstrated Picturephone at the 1964 World’s Fair in New York City. In 1970, AT&T launched Picturephone as the first commercial personal videotelephone system.
“Videotelephony” enters the record as reception and transmission of audio-video signals by users at different locations. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Videotelephony, reception and transmission can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 17, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q854954. The Library of Congress control number is sh85143224. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1930, 1964 and 1970.
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This entry incorporates text from “Videotelephony” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.