Discord RTC Connecting — What It Means and How to Fix It

Discord RTC Connecting means your app cannot establish a live voice connection with the server. Fix it quickly by resetting your Discord voice settings, restarting your router, or flushing your DNS cache. Most RTC Connecting errors resolve within 2 minutes using one of the fixes below.

What Does RTC Connecting Mean on Discord

RTC stands for Real-Time Communication — the protocol Discord uses for voice channels. When Discord shows RTC Connecting it means the app is trying but failing to establish a voice connection with the assigned server.

RTC Connecting is a client-side error — it means something on your end or network is blocking Discord's voice connection. This is different from server-side errors like Awaiting Endpoint which occur when Discord's own servers are having issues.

Common causes:

Your network is blocking Discord's UDP traffic
A VPN or proxy is interfering with the voice connection
Corrupted Discord voice settings
Your DNS cache has stale entries blocking the connection
A firewall or antivirus is blocking Discord
The voice channel region is having issues
Your IP address needs to be renewed

Fix 1 — Reset Discord Voice Settings

Corrupted voice settings are one of the most common causes of RTC Connecting. Resetting them takes 30 seconds:

Open Discord and click the gear icon to open User Settings
Click Voice & Video in the left sidebar
Scroll all the way down
Click Reset Voice Settings
Confirm when prompted
Rejoin the voice channel

Pro Tip:Reset Voice Settings is the fastest fix most guides miss. It clears all voice configuration including any custom audio subsystem settings that can conflict with your system's audio drivers and block RTC connection establishment.

Fix 2 — Restart Discord Completely

A full restart forces Discord to re-establish all connections from scratch:

Right-click the Discord icon in your system tray
Select Quit Discord — do not just close the window
Open Task Manager (Ctrl+Shift+Esc) and check for any remaining Discord processes
End any lingering Discord processes
Reopen Discord and rejoin the voice channel

Simply closing the Discord window often leaves background processes running that maintain the broken connection.

Fix 3 — Flush DNS and Renew IP

Stale DNS cache entries can route your connection to outdated Discord servers causing RTC Connecting:

Open Command Prompt as administrator
Run these commands one by one:

ipconfig /flushdns

ipconfig /release

ipconfig /renew

Restart Discord and rejoin the voice channel

Flushing DNS clears cached entries. Releasing and renewing your IP assigns a fresh address that can reach Discord's voice servers directly.

Fix 4 — Disable VPN or Proxy

Discord's RTC voice protocol requires UDP — VPNs that block UDP or route traffic through incompatible servers cause RTC Connecting:

Disconnect your VPN completely
Disable any proxy settings in your system network settings
Rejoin the Discord voice channel

If voice works without the VPN your VPN is causing the conflict. Switch to a different VPN server location or check that your VPN supports UDP protocol.

Windows proxy settings:

Open Control Panel → Network and Internet → Internet Options
Click Connections → LAN Settings
Uncheck Use a proxy server for your LAN
Click OK and restart Discord

Fix 5 — Change Voice Channel Region

If RTC Connecting only happens on one specific server the voice region may be having issues:

Requires Manage Channels permission or admin role:

Right-click the voice channel
Select Edit Channel
Go to Region Override
Change from Automatic to a specific region close to your location
Save and rejoin

Try a few different regions if the first one does not work. You can also set it back to Automatic after the issue resolves.

Fix 6 — Check Firewall and Antivirus

Windows Firewall or antivirus software blocking Discord's UDP traffic causes RTC Connecting:

Windows Firewall:

Open Windows Security → Firewall and Network Protection
Click Allow an app through firewall
Find Discord and ensure both Private and Public are checked
Click OK and restart Discord

Antivirus: Temporarily disable your antivirus and test if Discord voice connects. If it does add Discord to the antivirus whitelist permanently.

Discord's voice protocol uses UDP on ports 50000-65535. Your firewall must allow outbound UDP traffic on these ports.

Fix 7 — Restart Your Router

A simple router restart resolves many RTC Connecting issues caused by stale network state:

Turn off your router or modem
Wait 30 seconds
Turn it back on
Wait 60-90 seconds for full reconnection
Reopen Discord and rejoin the voice channel

Fix 8 — Change DNS Server

Your ISP's default DNS servers can sometimes block or slow Discord's voice server lookups:

Windows — Switch to Google DNS:

Open Control Panel → Network and Internet → Network Connections
Right-click your active connection → Properties
Select Internet Protocol Version 4 → Properties
Select Use the following DNS server addresses
Enter:
- Preferred DNS: 8.8.8.8
- Alternate DNS: 8.8.4.4
Click OK and restart Discord

Or use Cloudflare DNS: 1.1.1.1 and 1.0.0.1

Fix 9 — Use Discord Web Version

If the desktop app keeps showing RTC Connecting try the browser version as a temporary fix:

Go to discord.com in Chrome or Edge
Log in to your account
Join the voice channel

If voice works in the browser the issue is specific to your Discord desktop app — try reinstalling the desktop app.

Fix 10 — Reinstall Discord

If all other fixes fail a clean reinstall resolves persistent RTC Connecting caused by corrupted installation files:

Windows:

Uninstall Discord from Settings → Apps
Press Win+R → type %appdata% → delete the discord folder
Press Win+R → type %localappdata% → delete the Discord folder
Download the latest Discord from discord.com
Install and log back in

RTC Connecting vs Other Discord Voice Errors

Error	Cause	Fix
RTC Connecting	Client-side network issue	Reset voice settings, flush DNS, disable VPN
Awaiting Endpoint	Server-side Discord issue	Check discordstatus.com and wait
No Route	Firewall blocking UDP	Allow Discord through firewall
ICE Checking	NAT or router issue	Restart router, change DNS

Pro Tip:If you see RTC Connecting on all servers it is a local network issue — work through the fixes above. If you only see it on one specific server ask the admin to change the voice channel region. These two situations have completely different causes.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

Just closing the app instead of fully quitting — Closing the Discord window leaves background processes running. Always quit from the system tray and check Task Manager.

Skipping the Reset Voice Settings fix — This resolves a large percentage of RTC Connecting errors in under 30 seconds and most users never try it.

Not testing without VPN — VPNs are one of the most common causes. Always disconnect your VPN first before trying more complex fixes.

Only flushing DNS without renewing IP — Flushing DNS alone sometimes is not enough. Run all three commands — flushdns, release, and renew — for the best result.

Related Guides

Also try our free tools:

Discord Timestamp Generator — generate any Discord timestamp instantly
Discord Countdown Generator — build live countdown timers
Unix Timestamp Converter — convert between Unix timestamps and readable dates
Discord Snowflake ID Decoder — decode any Discord ID instantly

Frequently Asked Questions

RTC Connecting means Discord cannot establish a live voice connection with the server. RTC stands for Real-Time Communication — the protocol Discord uses for voice channels. It is a client-side error meaning something on your network or device is blocking the connection.

Start with Reset Voice Settings in Discord Settings → Voice & Video → scroll down → Reset Voice Settings. Then restart Discord completely from the system tray. If that does not work flush DNS in Command Prompt with ipconfig /flushdns, disable any VPN, and restart your router.

If you are not using a VPN try these fixes in order — Reset Voice Settings, restart Discord from system tray, flush DNS and renew IP in Command Prompt, restart your router, check firewall settings, and change your DNS server to 8.8.8.8. If the issue persists on one specific server ask the admin to change the voice channel region.

Discord gets stuck on RTC Connecting when it cannot establish a UDP connection to the voice server. Common causes are a VPN blocking UDP traffic, firewall rules preventing Discord's connection, stale DNS cache entries, corrupted voice settings, or the assigned voice region having issues.

RTC Connecting is caused by anything blocking Discord's UDP voice traffic — VPNs, firewalls, antivirus software, stale DNS entries, or a misconfigured proxy. It can also be caused by corrupted Discord voice settings or the voice channel being assigned to a region that is temporarily unavailable.

On mobile fully close Discord from your recent apps list then reopen it. Turn wifi off and back on or switch to mobile data to test if it is a network issue. If using a VPN disconnect it. You can also try changing the voice channel region if you have admin permissions on the server.

No — RTC Connecting is a client-side error meaning the issue is on your end not Discord's servers. If Discord's servers were down you would see Awaiting Endpoint instead. Check discordstatus.com to confirm Discord's servers are working then use the fixes above to resolve your local connection issue.

Open Discord → click the gear icon → Voice & Video → scroll to the bottom → click Reset Voice Settings → confirm. This clears all voice configuration including audio subsystem settings that can conflict with your system and cause RTC Connecting.

Ready to generate Discord timestamps?

Open the Generator