1. A group video messaging method comprising storing user information identifying authorized users of a video messaging system; creating an encoding channel coupling one or more user devices to an application server to carry traffic via said at least one network, wherein said at least one network comprises an access network, said encoding channel has a first endpoint and a second endpoint, said traffic comprises video files for transfer to said video messaging system, and voice data, and further comprising setting a target loss ratio for said encoding channel depending on type of said traffic being carried; providing a user interface to said video messaging system, said user interface permitting said authorized users to transfer, using said encoding channel, said video files to said video messaging system for storage and retrieval, and identify criteria for other authorized users to access each transferred video file, said user interface hosted on said application server; encoding, at said first endpoint, said video files using a network performance enhancing coding (NPEC) before transmission to said second end-point; decoding, using said NPEC running on an intermediate server at said second end-point, the received encoded video files, wherein said intermediate server is selected from the group consisting of proxy servers, TURN servers, and VPN servers; transmitting the decoded video files to said application server for transfer to said video messaging system; storing the transferred video files in said video messaging system; storing information identifying the one or more users that transferred the video files to said video messaging system, and said criteria for authorized users to access said stored video files; and storing information identifying different groups of said authorized users and which of said stored video files are to be accessible to each of said authorized users or authorized user groups.