WebRTC Demystified
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This document provides an overview of WebRTC, a set of technologies that enable real-time communication through web pages using JavaScript. WebRTC allows accessing a device's webcam and microphone through getUserMedia, establishing peer-to-peer connections between browsers using PeerConnection, and exchanging audio-visual streams and data between peers in real-time. The document outlines the key components of WebRTC, the supported codecs, and Mozilla's roadmap to integrate these technologies into Firefox and make them available by default in upcoming releases.
WebRTC Demystified
- 1. DEMYSTIFIED Anant Narayanan, Tim Terriberry Warsaw September 8, 2012
- 2. WHAT? • A set of technologies to enable real time communication in web pages through a simple JavaScript API • You need three things for this to work: Access to the webcam & microphone Peer to peer networking Media encoding and playback
- 3. GETUSERMEDIA • Web camera and microphone access with a simple API that integrates well with other web elements like <audio> and <video>
- 4. GETUSERMEDIA • Integration with <video> and <canvas> opens up many possibilities!
- 5. PEERCONNECTION • Allows creating a peer to peer channel for audio, video and data • High-level API, the grimy details of connectivity checks and NAT traversal is (mostly!) hidden
- 6. DATA CHANNELS • Like WebSockets, but directly from one peer to another! • Both reliable (like TCP) and unreliable (and UDP) modes available
- 7. MEDIA • VP8 for Video and Opus for Audio, just like <audio> & <video> • Opus - a high quality audio codec that’s great for realtime speech, music and local playback • You don’t (necessarily) have to worry about encoding or decoding, PeerConnection will automatically select the most appropriate codec usable on both ends. • Integration with the Audio Data API for manipulation coming soon!
- 8. ROADMAP • getUserMedia available in FF17 (behind a pref), targeting FF18 for turning it on by default • Targeting PeerConnection for FF18, currently available on alder for experimental purposes • Current focus is on shipping a usable, “1.0” version of both the above https://wiki.mozilla.org/Media/WebRTC
- 9. WE NEED YOU! • Developers: Tons of blocker bugs that need to be worked on, for both getUserMedia, PeerConnection and other WebRTC related efforts • • • hg.mozilla.org/projects/alder - build just like mozilla-central Write demos that use getUserMedia and/or PeerConnection Designers: We need creative ideas and mockups for the UI that should be presented to the user • • On device access, permission grant, during use, and more... Everybody: Tutorials, Documentation and Evangelism!