TL;DR
A vCon (short for "virtualized conversation") is an open format that packages everything about a single conversation, who was on it, the recording, the transcript, and the outcome, into one structured JSON file that can be signed so any tampering shows. Think of it as a vCard, but for a whole call instead of a contact. It is an emerging IETF standard, currently an active Internet-Draft, championed by the vCon Foundation. Klariqo signs every call as a vCon, and you can check one yourself in the public verifier at klariqo.com/vcon/.
If you run a call center, you already generate conversation data all day: recordings, CDRs, dispositions, maybe transcripts if you have analytics bolted on. The problem is that it lives in pieces, scattered across your dialer, your storage, your CRM, and whatever third-party tool you wired in. There is no single, portable, verifiable record of "here is what happened on this call." A vCon is the attempt to fix exactly that.
What a vCon actually is
A vCon is a container for one conversation. The cleanest way to understand it is the analogy the standard itself uses: a vCon is to a conversation what a vCard is to a contact. A vCard is the little file that holds a person's name, number, and email so any app can read it the same way. A vCon does the same job for a call: it holds the whole conversation and its context in one open, machine-readable file that any system can read, store, or hand off.
It is JSON, which matters more than it sounds. JSON is the common language of modern software, so a vCon drops into existing tools, databases, and AI pipelines without a translation layer. The conversation stops being trapped in your dialer's format and becomes a portable object you actually own.
What's inside a vCon
A single vCon can carry all of the parts of a call that normally live in separate systems:
- Parties: who was on the call, with identity information (the standard can carry verified caller-ID data such as STIR/SHAKEN PASSporT).
- Dialog: the actual conversation, the audio or video recording, or a reference to it, plus text like the transcript.
- Analysis: anything produced from the call afterwards, the transcript, sentiment, the qualification outcome, the disposition.
- Attachments: files shared or referenced during the conversation.
- Metadata: the call-detail-record style data (times, numbers, direction) you already know from your dialer.
- Consent: a dedicated block for what the caller consented to, what it covers, and for how long, captured as part of the record itself.
That last one is the part most call center operators sit up for, so it is worth its own section.
Why the consent piece matters
In a vCon, consent travels inside the record. Instead of the disclosure being a line in a recording somewhere and the proof being a separate log in a separate system, the consent block lives in the same signed file as the conversation it applies to. For anyone running TCPA-heavy outbound, ACA, Medicare, SSDI, debt, the appeal is obvious: the record and the permission that governs it stop being two things you have to reconcile later.
To be precise about what this does and does not do: a vCon gives you a tamper-evident record that the consent and the conversation were captured together and have not been altered since. It is not, by itself, a legal ruling that consent was valid. It is a far stronger evidentiary record than scattered logs, not a substitute for your compliance program.
Why a call center should care
Strip away the standards language and a vCon gives an operator four practical things:
- One portable record per call. Recording, transcript, outcome, and consent in a single file you can store, search, hand to a client, or feed to an AI tool, instead of stitching four systems together.
- Tamper-evidence. A vCon can be cryptographically signed, so if a single byte changes after signing, verification fails. The record is provably unaltered since it was created.
- Vendor neutrality. Because it is an open standard, a vCon is not locked to one platform. The record outlives whatever dialer or vendor you happen to use today.
- AI-ready data. Structured JSON conversation records are exactly what AI and analytics systems want to ingest, for QA, coaching, search, and training, without a custom export project each time.
Who is behind vCon
Credit where it is due, because Klariqo did not create vCon. vCon is being developed in the open as an IETF standard, through the Virtualized Conversations (vcon) working group (active Internet-Drafts cover the overview, the core, and the container format). The format was created by Thomas McCarthy-Howe (now CTO of VCONIC), organized under the vCon Foundation (launched in 2024), and championed by Jeff Pulver, a co-founder of Vonage and one of the people who shaped modern VoIP. The open-source reference tooling lives at conserver.io. Early networks are already emitting vCons natively, including Pulver's experimental Free World Dialup.
If you want to go to the source, the work is public: the IETF vCon working group and its core draft, draft-ietf-vcon-vcon-core.
Where Klariqo fits
Klariqo is an early adopter of vCon for voice AI and pay-per-call. Every call that runs through Klariqo is emitted as a signed vCon: the parties, the transcript, the qualification outcome, and a reference to the recording that carries a cryptographic SHA-512 hash of the audio itself. That hash matters, it means the recording is tamper-anchored too, not just the surrounding JSON. Customers can download the vCon for their calls straight from their dashboard.
We also publish a public vCon verifier at klariqo.com/vcon/. It runs entirely in your browser, nothing you paste or upload leaves your machine, and it works on any signed vCon, not just ours. Drop one in and it tells you whether the record has been altered since it was signed, and which key signed it. The signer identity is self-asserted (it tells you the record was signed by the holder of that certificate, not that a third party has vouched for the identity), which is the honest state of the art today and the layer the standard is built to extend later.
That is the whole point of adopting an open standard early: the record you create today is readable, portable, and verifiable by anyone, on infrastructure you do not control, for as long as the conversation matters.
FAQ
What is a vCon? A vCon (virtualized conversation) is an open format that packages a whole conversation, parties, recording, transcript, analysis, metadata, and consent, into a single structured JSON file that can be signed for tamper-evidence. It is to a conversation what a vCard is to a contact.
Is vCon an official standard? It is an emerging IETF standard. It is currently an active Internet-Draft in the IETF Virtualized Conversations working group, not yet a final published RFC, but it is being developed in the open with working reference tooling.
How is a vCon different from a call recording or a CDR? A call recording is just the audio. A CDR is just the metadata (numbers, times, duration). A vCon holds all of it, the recording, the transcript, the outcome, the metadata, and the consent, in one portable, signable file, rather than as separate records in separate systems.
Does Klariqo support vCon? Yes. Klariqo signs every call as a vCon, lets customers download the vCon for their calls from their dashboard, and runs a public verifier at klariqo.com/vcon/ where anyone can check a vCon's integrity.
Can I verify a vCon myself? Yes. Klariqo's public verifier at klariqo.com/vcon/ runs in your browser and checks whether a signed vCon has been altered since signing, and which key signed it. It works on any signed vCon, and your file never leaves your machine.
Does a vCon help with TCPA or consent compliance? It helps by keeping the consent record inside the same tamper-evident file as the conversation it applies to, so the permission and the call travel together. It is a stronger evidentiary record, not a replacement for your compliance program or legal advice.
See it for yourself
The fastest way to understand a vCon is to inspect one. Open the public verifier, load the sample, and look at what a conversation looks like as an open, signed record.