Simple Voice Chat | Talk With Players Near You

Load into a server with Simple Voice Chat installed and the difference is obvious within seconds. A friend walks over and their voice comes from their character, louder as they get close, quieter as they walk away. Whisper and only the player standing next to you hears it. Speak up and everyone nearby does. That is proximity voice chat, and with roughly 78 million downloads, this is the mod most servers use for it.

Proximity Voice, Whispering and 3D Sound

Sound is rendered in 3D, so voices come from the spot where the player is actually standing. The voice distance is configurable, which decides how far a normal speaking voice carries. Hold the whisper key (it has no default binding) and your words only reach the players right beside you, with a separate icon so people know you are whispering. You can also adjust the volume of individual players, which helps a lot on busy servers.

Small status icons keep everyone honest. One shows when you are talking, another when you are whispering, and the same states appear over other players too. Separate icons cover a muted microphone, a disabled voice chat, and a voice chat that is not connected or not installed.

Group Chats That Reach Across the Map

Proximity audio stops at the edge of its radius. Groups remove that limit. Press G, or use the group button in the main GUI, then type a name into the text field and confirm. Groups can be password protected, so a private call stays private. Once you are in one, you can talk to its members from anywhere on the server, no matter how far apart you are.

Your screen shows the heads of group members in the top left corner, and the head of anyone talking gets outlined. Players outside the group see a small group icon next to your head, so they know you are on a call. To invite someone, run /voicechat invite <playername> or invite them from the social interactions screen.

Push to Talk, Audio Settings and Recording

Two activation types are included. Push to talk sits on Caps Lock by default and is fully rebindable. Voice activation keys the mic automatically, with automatic voice activity detection and automatic microphone gain adjustment keeping your levels steady. RNNoise, a recurrent neural network, suppresses background noise before it reaches anyone else. Audio runs through the Opus codec over OpenAL, and voice traffic is AES encrypted, though the developer stops short of guaranteeing its security.

Press V to open the voice chat GUI. From there you can mute yourself, disable voice chat, start or stop a recording, hide all icons, open your groups or head into the settings. That settings menu covers the audio side, with a microphone activation test, speaker test playback and microphone amplification. Quick keys worth knowing: M mutes your mic, N disables voice chat completely and H hides the icons. If you run ModMenu, the mod integrates with it, and ClothConfig gives you a nicer configuration UI.

Recording captures voice chat with separate audio tracks, which is handy if you edit videos later. Behind the scenes there is also a powerful API, and a healthy set of addons that build extra features on top of the base mod.

How to Install Simple Voice Chat

Simple Voice Chat needs setup on both the server and every client, so read the steps below before your first launch.

1. Install a mod loader first. The mod ships in builds for Fabric, Forge, NeoForge and Quilt. New to loaders? Start with our guide to installing Minecraft mods, or the Fabric guide if that is your loader of choice.
2. Download the mod for your loader from the official project page and drop the jar into your mods folder.
3. Set up the server side. The mod requires special setup on the server in order to work, so the server needs it installed too. Bukkit, Spigot and Paper servers can run the dedicated plugin version instead.
4. Open the voice chat port on your server. Port 24454 UDP is the default, and the server config lets you change it. Without this port open, voice chat will not connect. The official setup wiki walks through the whole process.
5. Launch the game, press V and test your microphone in the settings before you join. Every player who wants to talk needs the mod on their own client.

Simple Voice Chat FAQ

Does Simple Voice Chat have to be on the server?

Yes. It requires special server setup to function, and the server needs port 24454 UDP open for voice traffic. Servers running Bukkit, Spigot or Paper can use the plugin version instead of the mod jar.

How do you open the voice chat settings?

Press V to open the voice chat GUI and click the settings button. You can test your microphone there, adjust amplification and rebind keys such as push to talk.

Does Simple Voice Chat work across different mod loaders and server software?

Yes. The builds for the supported mod loaders are cross compatible with each other, and the mod also supports the Velocity, BungeeCord and Waterfall proxies alongside its Bukkit, Spigot and Paper versions.

Is Simple Voice Chat still maintained?

Yes. It is actively maintained, with the latest release in October 2026, and its API supports many addons.

Once your server can talk, pair it with Simple HUD Enhanced for cleaner on screen information, or Auto HUD to tuck interface elements out of the way when you do not need them.