Home » Development » API » Using Web RTC in your web application
In a perfect world all current browsers would allow the usage of WebRTC natively, but that is as always not the case ;)
“WebRTC (Web Real-Time Communication) is an API definition drafted by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) that supports browser-to-browser applications for voice calling, video chat, and P2P file sharing without the need of either internal or external plugins.” – Wikipedia
A friend of mine is currently evaluating options to add live video into a web project, so that participants on the website can talk to each other or follow online video courses.
WebRTC would be perfect, as you could include a native video chat window inside your web application. As said above, browser support is still limited.
Currently supported browsers are:
As always Internet Explorer & sadly Safari are lagging behind and provide no WebRTC API yet. So for a native web integration that means to either ignore IE users and redirect them to use another browser or use an external solution that is not as integrated. Just like it was when Flash lost its footing on mobile.
I would suggest going WebRTC, as there are many hosted services by now that provide integrated environments with nice APIs, to build a native video chat experience into your web application.
A nice example is verbling, a language learning service, which was build on top of Google Hangouts.
WebRTC is not just a hype, but a technology that is here to stay. Microsoft & Apple will need to follow soon or loose even more browser users looking for modern integrated experiences on the web.
Here are some other services to give you an idea of current solutions emerging.
I will keep this list updated, as I discover new things ;)
Alexander Gräf
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I am a full-stack developer. My expertise include:
I love programming, design and know my way around server architecture as well. I would never feel complete, with one of these missing.
I have a broad range of interests, that’s why I constantly dive into new technologies and expand my knowledge where ever required. Technologies are evolving fast and I enjoy using the latest.
Apart from that, I am a peace loving guy who tries to have people around him that think the same. I truly believe in the principle: “If you help someone, someone will help you, when you need it."