Posts navigation

There is a cool new feature everyone has been trying to implement – background transparency. Virtual backgrounds have been around for a while. Rather than inserting a new background behind user(s), transparency removes the background altogether, allowing the app to place users over a screen share or together in a shared environment. There doesn’t seem to be a universal name for this feature. Zoom calls it Immersive View. Microsoft calls it Together Mode. RingCentral calls them overlays. Virtual green screens or newscaster mode are other names. ... Continue reading

webrtcH4cKS: ~ How does WebRTC End-to-End Encryption work? Matrix.org example (Dave Baker)

Posted by Dave Baker on October 5, 2021

Posted in: Technology.

Tagged: e2ee, Element, encryption, Matrix.org, olm.

One of WebRTC’s great features is its mandated strong encryption. Encryption mechanisms are built-in, meaning developers don’t (often) need to deal with the details. However, these easy, built-in encryption mechanisms assume you have: 1) media is communicated peer-to-peer and 2) a secure signaling channel setup. Most group-calling services make use of a media server device, like a Selective Forwarding Unit (SFU) that terminate and re-encrypt, preventing the end-to-end encryption (e2ee). As we have covered here before, WebRTC e2ee is still possible with new APIs like Insertable Streams. That addresses the first assumption, but what about the second? How does one set up secure signaling for e2ee? ... Continue reading

webrtcH4cKS: ~ Apple’s not so private relay fails with WebRTC

Posted by Philipp Hancke on September 27, 2021

Posted in: Technology.

Tagged: apple, ip leakage, Safari.

Apple released iOS 15 with iCloud Private Relay broken for WebRTC - it still divulges your IP address. This post walks through why and how the WebRTC API's use your IP address information and how you can check what IP addresses are gathered.

webrtcH4cKS: ~ Dealing with HTMLMediaElements and srcObjects in WebRTC applications

Posted by Philipp Hancke on August 11, 2021

Posted in: Guide.

Tagged: Chrome, WebMediaPlayer.

3 comments

Philipp Hancke discusses a how to properly release Media Element resources with WebRTC and a recent Chrome issue that apps to stop handling larger numbers of participants.

webrtcH4cKS: ~ Identifying Shared Tabs using Capture Handle (Elad Alon)

Posted by Elad Alon on July 22, 2021

Posted in: Standards, Technology.

Tagged: Chrome, cpatureHandle, getDisplayMedia, screen share.

Introduction to capture handle - a new Chrome Origin Trial that lets a WebRTC screen sharing application communicate with the tab it is capturing. Examples use case discussed include detecting self-capture, improving the use of collaboration apps that are screen shared, and optimizing stream parameters of the captured content.

webrtcH4cKS: ~ Making Zoom’s Smart Gallery on the Web with MediaPipe and BreakoutBox

Posted by Philipp Hancke on July 15, 2021

Posted in: Guide.

Tagged: MediaPipe, MediaStreamTrack, zoom.

How to seperate multiple people in the same camera feed into their own unique video streams that can be individually transmitted Google's MediaPipe and the W3C's new MediaStreamTrack API

webrtcH4cKS: ~ FaceTime finally faces WebRTC – implementation deep dive

Posted by Philipp Hancke on June 14, 2021

Posted in: Reverse-Engineering.

Tagged: apple, Blackbox Exploration, e2ee, FaceTime, ios, wireshark.

5 comments

Deep dive analysis on how FaceTime for Web uses WebRTC. Philipp "Fippo" Hancke uses webrtc-internals, Wireshark, and reviews the JavaScript implementation to expose Apple's implementation details.

webrtcH4cKS: ~ How to Leverage the AWS WebSocket API for Serverless WebRTC signaling

Posted by Edward Burton on May 24, 2021

Posted in: Guide.

Tagged: AWS, Lamdba, serverless, signaling, websocket.

1 comment

How to use the AWS API Gateway WebSocket API functionality with Lamdba functions to implement a serverless WebRTC signaling architecture

webrtcH4cKS: ~ How Go-based Pion attracted WebRTC Mass – Q&A with Sean Dubois

Posted by admin on April 6, 2021

Posted in: Technology.

Tagged: go, golang, pion, Q&A, Sean Dubois.

2 comments

Pion seemingly came out of nowhere to become one of the biggest and most active WebRTC communities. Pion is a Go-based set of WebRTC projects. Golang is an interesting language, but it is not among the most popular programming languages out there, so what is so special about Pion? Why are there so many developers involved in this project?

To learn more about this project and how it came to be among the most active WebRTC organizations, I interviewed its founder – Sean Dubois. We discuss Sean’s background and how be got started in RTC, so see the interview for his background. I really wanted to understand why he decided to build a new WebRTC project and why he continues to spend so much of his free time on it. ... Continue reading

webrtcH4cKS: ~ WebRTC Today & Tomorrow: Interview with W3C WebRTC Chair Bernard Aboba

Posted by Chad Hart on December 22, 2020

Posted in: Standards.

Tagged: av1, Bernard Aboba, ietf, insertable streams, ORTC, Q&A, quic, sframe, simulcast, w3c, webcodecs, webtransport.

Interview with WebRTC standards co-chair and author, Bernard Aboba. We cover the current status of WebRTC and where it is headed including WebRTC-NV, Simulcast, SVC, AV1, WebTransport, WebCodecs, ML and more.