[burntroots]

Does XMPP support inline photo and video? Last I checked, it didn't. So why deal with the external dependency when you can re-write it yourself with additional features?

[jeffbr13]

It does according to Wikipedia, although "Binary data must be first base64 encoded before it can be transmitted in-band", making it inefficient[1].

XMPP's based on XML anyway, so implementing inline media and extra features sounds easier than rolling an entirely new protocol.

But perhaps some of the proprietary systems use XMPP internally anyway? After all, it's used for more than just chat clients nowadays.

[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xmpp#Weaknesses