LTI 1.3 (Learning Tools Interoperability) is the 1EdTech standard that connects external learning tools to an LMS through one secure, certified handshake — covering single sign-on, roster access, deep linking, and gradebook pass-back. If a tool supports LTI 1.3, it behaves like a native feature of Canvas, Moodle, Blackboard, or Brightspace instead of a bolt-on.
Every LMS ecosystem faces the same tension: instructors want best-of-breed tools — video platforms, assessment engines, discussion layers — while IT wants one identity system, one security review, and one place where grades live. LTI is the contract that makes both possible. The tool runs inside the course as if it were built in; the LMS stays the system of record for identity, enrollment, and grades.
LTI 1.3 replaces the aging signature scheme of LTI 1.1 with the same security stack that banks and identity providers use: OAuth 2.0 and OpenID Connect. When a learner clicks a tool link in a course, the LMS sends a signed launch message that says, in effect, “this is who the user is, this is their role, and this is the course they are in.” The tool verifies that signature against the platform's published public keys, so nothing depends on a shared password that could leak or be replayed.
For the learner, none of this is visible. They click a link and land in the tool already signed in, in the right course, with the right role. No second login, no account creation, no guessing which email address they registered with.
LTI 1.3 on its own handles the secure launch. LTI Advantage is the bundle of three services layered on top of it — and it is what most institutions actually mean when they require “LTI 1.3.”
Lets the tool read the course roster — who is enrolled, and in what role — so an instructor can see exactly which students have and haven't engaged, without a nightly CSV export or a separate user database to maintain.
Lets the tool create line items in the LMS gradebook and pass scores back automatically. A quiz completed inside a video can land in the Canvas or Moodle gradebook seconds later, with no manual entry and no import step.
Lets an instructor pick specific content from inside the tool — a particular video, quiz, or assignment — and drop it into a course module as a ready-to-launch link, instead of pasting raw URLs and hoping they resolve for students.
LTI 1.1 relied on OAuth 1.0a signatures with a single long-lived shared secret per tool — workable in 2010, indefensible now. 1EdTech has formally deprecated 1.1, and the major platforms have ended or scheduled the end of support for it. Security teams prefer 1.3 because key rotation, per-deployment isolation, and signed JWTs map cleanly onto modern audit requirements. For procurement, “LTI 1.3 with LTI Advantage certification” has become the baseline filter, the same way SSO support is for general SaaS.
Modern LMSs make registration close to instant. Canvas uses developer keys with a JSON configuration URL; Moodle, Blackboard, and Brightspace each accept dynamic registration or a short copy-paste of a client ID and keyset URL. A well-built tool ships those as a single URL, so an admin can go from zero to a working, gradebook-connected integration in minutes — see how one-click LTI integrations work for the exact flow in each LMS.
Annoto is an in-video engagement layer that runs inside your LMS through LTI 1.3. Instructors deep-link a video assignment into a module; learners get timeline discussion, in-video quizzes, personal notes with AI recaps, and peer review directly on top of the player — whether the video lives on Panopto, Kaltura, YouTube, Vimeo, or Annoto's native hosting. Names and Roles powers per-learner analytics, and Assignment and Grade Services syncs quiz and completion scores straight into the gradebook. Browse the full list of integrations, or see what setup looks like from the IT side.
When evaluating a tool, ask for: 1EdTech certification (not just “compatibility”), support for all three Advantage services, dynamic registration, documented key rotation, per-deployment tenancy, and a data-processing agreement that matches the roster data the tool will receive. Our LTI 1.3 procurement checklist walks through each item with the questions to put in an RFP.
Vendors often say LTI 1.3 when they mean only the launch. The services that matter to instructors, grade passback and rosters, are part of LTI Advantage and have to be listed separately.
| Capability | LTI 1.1 | LTI 1.3 core | LTI Advantage |
|---|---|---|---|
| Launch security | OAuth 1.0a signature with one shared secret | OpenID Connect launch, JWT signed with rotating keys | Same as core |
| Who the user is | Sent in the launch, weakly protected by today's standards | Verified identity claims in the launch token | Same as core |
| Deep linking | Content-item extension, uneven support | Not in core | Deep Linking 2.0: instructors pick the video from inside the LMS |
| Grade passback | Basic Outcomes, one score per link | Not in core | Assignment and Grade Services: columns, scores and progress per learner |
| Rosters | Extension, rarely enabled | Not in core | Names and Role Provisioning Services |
| Status in 2026 | Deprecated by 1EdTech; new installs refused by most institutions | Required baseline | What procurement should ask for by name |
An LTI 1.3 registration is a short exchange of identifiers, and the review goes faster when the vendor sends all of them in the first message. The LMS admin needs the tool's login initiation URL, redirect URIs and public keyset URL; the vendor needs the platform's issuer, client ID, deployment ID, authentication endpoint and keyset URL in return. Beyond the launch, the admin has to enable the Advantage services the tool will use, typically Assignment and Grade Services with line-item and score scopes and Names and Role Provisioning Services, choose the privacy level that decides whether names and emails are shared, and turn on the placements, such as assignment selection and course navigation, where the tool should appear. Many LMSs also offer a dynamic registration URL that fills most of this in automatically.
Five faults account for almost every failed launch. Clock drift between the LMS and the tool invalidates the signed token, which expires within minutes. A deployment ID copied from a different course or sub-account fails silently. A privacy level set to anonymous hides the names the tool needs to show who commented or answered. A placement that was never enabled means instructors cannot find the tool where the documentation says it lives. And browsers that block third-party cookies break launches inside an iframe unless the tool uses partitioned storage or opens in a new window, which is why a modern tool should test both.
Yes, substantially. LTI 1.1 signed launches with a single long-lived shared secret, and anyone holding that secret could forge launches. LTI 1.3 uses OAuth 2.0 and OpenID Connect with asymmetric key pairs: the LMS signs each launch as a JWT, the tool verifies it against a published public keyset, and keys can be rotated without downtime. That is why 1EdTech deprecated 1.1 and why most institutions refuse new 1.1 integrations.
Yes — through Assignment and Grade Services (AGS), part of LTI Advantage. A tool can create gradebook columns, post scores, and update them as learners progress. In Annoto's case, that means in-video quiz results and video-completion scores appear in the Canvas, Moodle, Blackboard, or Brightspace gradebook automatically, with no CSV uploads.
Yes. All four, along with Open edX and Schoology, implement LTI 1.3 and the LTI Advantage services, and 1EdTech certifies the implementations. The setup screens differ, Canvas uses developer keys and Moodle uses external tool registrations, but the identifiers exchanged are the same, and a tool registered once can be enabled per course, per sub-account or for the whole institution.
No regulation names a protocol version. LTI 1.3 does, however, make compliance easier to demonstrate: the tool never receives institutional passwords, the identity claims it does receive are limited by the privacy level the institution chooses, and every launch is signed, so a review board can see exactly what data crosses the boundary. Institutions that still run LTI 1.1 tools usually have to document a compensating control for the shared-secret design.
Bring one video from your course and we'll show you LTI 1.3 deep linking, in-video quizzes, and gradebook sync working end to end in a 20-minute demo.
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