/plushcap/analysis/ably/what-is-webrtc

What is WebRTC?

What's this blog post about?

Web Real-Time Communication (WebRTC) is an industry effort to enhance web browsing by allowing direct peer-to-peer exchange of real-time media through secure access to input peripherals like webcams and microphones. Unlike traditional client-server architecture, WebRTC enables data exchange among N peers without a server in the middle. It comes built-in with HTML 5 and can be accessed through the WebRTC API. WebRTC has broad applicability, including peer-to-peer video, audio, and screen sharing; file exchange; IoT applications like drone streaming and surveillance systems; entertainment and audience engagement; and real-time language processing. Key features of WebRTC include MediaStream for accessing streams from local input devices, RTCPeerConnection for connecting to peers, and RTCDataChannel for exchanging generic data in a bidirectional, peer-to-peer fashion. WebRTC is often compared to WebSockets, which enables bidirectional communication between web clients and servers over a persistent single-socket connection. While WebSocket works on top of TCP, WebRTC primarily uses UDP for faster performance but with less reliability. Both technologies can complement each other in real-time applications. Major organizations like Google Meets, Zoom, Skype, Facebook (Chat, Messenger, Live), Gatheround, Discord, Bevy, and Snapchat use WebRTC. Ably provides robust and easy-to-use APIs for powering live and collaborative experiences using WebRTC.

Company
Ably

Date published
March 31, 2022

Author(s)
Adeyinka Adegbenro

Word count
1506

Hacker News points
None found.

Language
English


By Matt Makai. 2021-2024.