WebRTC is real-time communication for the web, enabling video, voice, and data transfer between peers using an open standard.
It allows audio and video communication and streaming to work inside web pages by allowing direct peer-to-peer communication, eliminating the need to install plugins or download native apps.
ICE, STUN and TURN are the NAT traversal techniques used to connect to remote peer.
WebRTC supports a diverse set of use cases.
- Multiple tracks of bi-directional audio and video.
- Media negotiation, codecs and media events like adding and removing tracks.
- P2P connectivity with optimal path discovery, Client/Server can be built as well.
- Binary and text communication, lossy and unordered data with flow control APIs.
- Mandatory encryption, secure by default and requires no developer configuration.
We showcase open source tools that use WebRTC.
Here’s our verdict captured in a legendary LinuxLinks-style ratings chart. Only free and open source software is eligible for inclusion.
Click the links in the table below to learn more about each tool.
| WebRTC Tools | |
|---|---|
| mediasoup | Server-side WebRTC library, specifically a Selective Forwarding Unit (SFU |
| Pion | Modern stack for web real-time communication |
| Jitsi | Innovative voice and video conferencing |
| LiveKit | End-to-end stack for WebRTC |
| SRS | Real-time media server |
| OpenVidu | Platform to develop WebRTC real-time applications |
| Janus | Gneral purpose WebRTC server |
| BigBlueButton | Virtual classroom platform |
| aiortc | Library for WebRTC and ORTC |
| MiroTalk SFU | Self-hosted WebRTC videoconferencing platform |
| MiroTalk P2P | Self-hosted WebRTC video conferencing application |
| coturn | Implementation of TURN and STUN Server |
| Galene | Easy to deploy videoconference server |
| Nextcloud Talk | Chat, video and audio calls for Nextcloud |
| Selkies | Remote desktop and application streaming platform |
| libpeer | Portable WebRTC library for IoT/embedded devices |
| libdatachannel | WebRTC network library |
| Kurento | WebRTC media server |
| str0m | Sans I/O WebRTC implementation |
| Elixir WebRTC | Elixir implementation of the W3C WebRTC API |
| Gryt | Self-hostable, WebRTC-based voice communication app |
| PairUX | Collaborative screen sharing with simultaneous remote control |
This article has been updated to reflect the changes outlined in our recent announcement.
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