How WebRTC Video Conference Works

Over the years, we have witnessed monumental technological evolutions that have transformed how we interact and communicate with each other. Just recently, the World Wide Web introduced a massive advancement in the video conference applications niche. Latest technologies have afforded browsers the capability to initiate exclusive real-time communications.

An open source and free project, WebRTC is among the few platforms that aim to offer users the liberty to enjoy quality real-time communication and in a redefined way.

What Is WebRTC?

In all simplicity, WebRTC is an open and free project that allows the peer to peer audio, data and video communication between browsers. This enables video chatting, video calling and even peer-to-peer sharing of files within the browsers without using any plugins!

Why Use It?

WebRTC does not need any plugins, applications or frameworks with the only condition being that you use a browser compatible with WebRTC. To end users, WebRTC allied applications are simply straightforward. No Silverlight, No Flash or even JavaScript API, just plain audio, data and video communication on virtually any web page.

It is completely peer-to-peer and as such you are not required to pay for whatever bandwidth.

Since it completely browser to browser, it offers the highest performance with the lowest possible latency. It eradicates the process of uploading a file in order to share it, a process that in most cases compromises on the quality of the file being shared.

WebRTC Video Conferencing

For decades now, conference calls and chats have dictated business communications. Until recently, successful capture and transmission of videos for conferences required the user to download extra plug-ins or software. Nonetheless, with WebRTC video conferencing, this is about to change. Why? It allows users to communicate with each other through immediate streaming feeds which rival existing video conferencing methods in relation to both reliability and quality.

How WebRTC Video Conference Works (Inbuilt APIs)

The success of video conferencing using WebRTC heavily relies on 3 exclusive HTML5 APIs – RTCPeerConnection, RTCDataChannel and getUserMedia-which combine to capture both audio and video information, trace other individuals to initiate communication with, and then transmit streaming content to another browser (peer).

These APIs are inbuilt and can be found in browsers such as Firefox, Opera, and Chrome. WebRTC makes use of the audio codec Opus and video codec VP8 to provide industry-leading streaming abilities. When integrated with Chrome MDM solutions, managing and securing browser-based communication on Chrome devices becomes even more seamless.

The VP8 (video codec) which is the key element in the video conferencing capacity of WebRTC comes with resolution limits and frame rates higher than typical monitors can attain. Users can even make use of this immediate streaming media without sacrificing on the all-important high-definition video. Moreover, VP8 is both open source and free which therefore means that there are no accompanying fees with WebRTC video conferencing.

Before delivery, all data transmitted through this video conferencing is comprehensively encrypted. This is performed through the use of Datagram Transport Layer Security (DTLS) - a characteristically standardized protocol. This encryption is common with every WebRTC supporting browser and is formulated to guarantee the secure transmission of data.

WebRTC provides complete encryption with message authentification, asymmetric cryptography systems, and data discretion to maintain the privacy of video data.

WebRTC and the Video Conferencing Market

Currently, the success of virtually every business lies on proper communication and connectivity. With video conferencing, businesses are well able to realize ‘full blown’ sense of their interactions. Video conferencing sets out to guarantee clear communication and ultimately improved productivity. And while there are numerous firms promising to offer the much need clarity in communication through video conferencing, only a few firms and products can guarantee this.

The release of WebRTC follows the trend set by a video conferencing solution giant by the name ezTalks. WebRTC like ezTalk Cloud Meeting and ezTalks Onion both products of ezTalks is now gradually forging its repute as a reliable and quality product with the ability to ensure secure transmission of both video and audio data to the delight of the users.

Increase in available video conferencing products: The unveiling of WebRTC has strongly impacted the growth of video conferencing industry (market) especially with their exclusive WebRTC-powered browsers. Why? They have contributes to the overall number of video conferencing provisions present in the world.

WebRTC and start-ups: There are numerous simple HTML/JavaScript APIs which facilitate easy implementation of WebRTC for the peer-to-peer transmission of both video and audio content. Formerly, developers needed to get acquainted with protocols and rely on skill-set of other firms, which in most cases mandated for added licensing and of course increased costs.

WebRTC has already gained popularity and is continually being used globally by numerous individuals in services such as live video support, video content pages, and webinars. This also includes ezTalks, Google Hangouts among others.

Alternative to typical Platform-Limited products: The fact that WebRTC is surprisingly not allied to any operating system but is instead executed in browsers gives it an edge over numerous platform-reliant solutions.

Conclusion

Let’s face it; Video conferencing is not an easy ride. Whether it is the session planning, the investment in superior quality equipment or the numerous conditions that need to be fulfilled and set to near perfection such as echo cancellation and noise reduction and so on- it is simply overwhelming! However, there is a new ‘sheriff’ in town and it is none other than WebRTC.

By eradicating the need to rely on plugins when transmitting video and audio and facilitating easy peer-to-peer sharing of content without any costs on the bandwidth, WebRTC has become an instant game-changer in the world of video conferencing. Not only can you effectively communicate with your colleagues instantly, but you are now able to share files securely and without necessarily spending hours trying to learn protocol.