What is WebRTC?

What is WebRTC and what are its advantages? WebRTC is an HTML5 specification that can be used to add real-time media communication directly between the browser and the device.

Simply put: WebRTC enables voice and video communication through the web. And you can do it without having to install any plug-ins in your browser.

WebRTC was launched in 2011 and has steadily grown in popularity and adoption since then.

In 2016, 2 billion browsers were installed that work with WebRTC. From a traffic perspective, WebRTC estimates that more than 1 billion minutes of time and 500 terabytes of data are transferred each week through browser communications alone. Today, WebRTC is widely used for video calls, but it does more than that.

A few things worth mentioning:

WebRTC is also completely free. It is an open source project that is embedded in the browser, but you can use it as you see fit.

In turn, a vibrant and dynamic ecosystem has been created around WebRTC, with open source projects and frameworks and software from tech companies to help you build your creative ideas.

WebRTC technology is mature, it integrates the best audio/video engine, very advanced Codec, but Google doesn’t charge anything for these technologies.

Strong hole-making ability. WebRTC technology includes key NAT and firewall penetration technologies using STUN, ICE, TURN, RTP-over-TCP, and proxy support.

So how does WebRTC work?

Code and API

It’s important to know the source: if a few years ago you wanted to build anything that allowed voice or video calls, then you would probably use C/C ++. This means longer development cycles and higher development costs.

WebRTC changes all that: it replaces C/C ++ with Javascript apis.

WebRTC comes with a Javascript API layer at the top that you can use in your browser. This makes it easier to develop and integrate real-time communications from anywhere. Internally, WebRTC is still implemented primarily in C/C ++, but most developers using WebRTC can develop their applications without delving into these layers.

availability

Today WebRTC is available in all modern browsers. Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Apple Safari and Microsoft Edge support WebRTC.

You can also “take” WebRTC and integrate it into applications or embedded devices without requiring a browser at all.

Media and access rights

WebRTC allows access to the device. You can access the device’s microphone, the camera on your phone or laptop, or the screen itself. You can capture the user’s display and then share or record the screen remotely.

Whatever WebRTC does can be done in real time, allowing for real-time communication interactions. WebRTC is not limited to voice and video. It allows you to send arbitrary data of any type.

WebRTC is an ideal choice for real-time communication for several reasons:

  • First, WebRTC is an open source project. It’s completely free for commercial or private use, so why not use it?
  • As it evolves and improves, you’ll be relying on technology that will serve you for years.
  • WebRTC is a great choice — it has created a vibrant ecosystem around different vendors and companies that can help you with your applications. For example, EasyRTC video conference cloud service developed based on open source WebRTC technology is widely used in education, finance, medical and health care, enterprise training, remote office and other scenarios.
  • Today WebRTC is available in all modern browsers. This enables and authorizes the creation of new use cases and business models. From guitar or yoga classes — to theater or medicine — to hosting big professional webinars; WebRTC can serve all of these people and more.

  • WebRTC is not limited to browsers, as it can also be used for mobile applications. The source code is portable and has been used in many mobile applications. The SDK is available for mobile and embedded environments, so you can use WebRTC to run anywhere.
  • WebRTC is not just for voice or video calls, it is powerful and versatile. You can use it to set up a group calling service, add records to it, or just use it for data delivery.
  • It’s up to you to decide what to do with WebRTC. WebRTC takes the concept of a communication service and relegates it to functionality in another type of service. So now you can use WebRTC by simply adding communication to the business processes needed in your application or enterprise.

The ideas and uses for WebRTC are exciting and versatile. So what options do you have besides using WebRTC?