WebRTC video chat API and streaming explained

The business landscape changes quickly, particularly in the past few years: remote work and collaboration have become less of a commodity and more of a necessity. Video conferencing and chat is a crucial part of today's competitive business toolbox.

WebRTC, announced in 2011, is an open source project that quickly grew in popularity. In this post, you'll learn what WebRTC video is, how it works and what makes it the perfect solution for your real-time communication needs.

What is WebRTC video?

Web Real-Time Communication (WebRTC), enables direct communication between browsers. Through a collection of APIs, WebRTC allows browsers to exchange information and data such as video, audio and text files.

What makes WebRTC video so attractive is the ability for browsers to directly communicate with each other. This differs from alternative video streaming technologies—such as Websockets—which only establishes a connection between a client (such as a browser) and a web server.

When it comes to video and live streaming, WebRTC offers a faster and more user friendly experience. Let’s dive deeper into what’s going on in the background.

Here’s How it Works

With WebRTC, clients have the ability to directly communicate with each other, bypassing the server almost entirely. However, this doesn’t mean that WebRTC doesn’t need the server at all. With the seemingly infinite number of clients out there, how do clients know with whom they’re supposed to communicate?

Essentially, the connection between clients-or browsers-is established through a process known as signaling. Signaling works as follows:

• A client will signal to the server that they would like to communicate with a secondary client, and provide their information.
• The server will then take that information, and signal the request to the secondary client.
• If the secondary client accepts, they will signal their information back to the server.
• The server will then start communication between the two clients.

With the connection established, the two clients will be able to communicate with each other without the server having any interaction.

Major Benefits of WebRTC Video Chat

What makes WebRTC so attractive for video in particular? While video streaming is possible with Websockets, the extra requests between client and server can cause latency. Latency may not be as big of an issue for non-video files, but when it comes to things like video conferencing and video chat, even an extra second of delay can cause issues.

WebRTC video allows for faster streaming, removing the need for additional applications. Instead, communication takes place directly between the web browsers, which reduces the resources required and provides additional features.

Getting Started with WebRTC Video

If you want to explore what's possible with WebRTC and video communications, Telnyx is here to help, talk to an expert today.

FAQ

What is a video chat API? A video chat API is a set of SDKs and endpoints that add real-time video, audio, and data channels to your app. Most modern stacks rely on WebRTC video streaming for low-latency media transport across browsers and mobile.

How does a video chat API work? It coordinates signaling to negotiate codecs and session details, uses STUN and TURN for NAT traversal, and routes media peer to peer or through an SFU for scale. Encryption typically uses DTLS-SRTP for media and TLS for signaling, with adaptive bitrate to handle changing network conditions.

Which features matter most in a video chat API? Look for an SFU architecture, screen sharing, recording, simulcast, noise suppression, and robust web and mobile SDKs. A programmable video conferencing API should also offer moderation tools, real-time quality metrics, and webhook events for automation.

Is WebRTC required for building a video chat app? For browser-based apps, yes, because WebRTC is the native standard in Chrome, Safari, Firefox, and Edge. Native mobile apps can also use WebRTC to keep interoperability consistent across platforms.

How do I integrate a video chat API into my web or mobile app? Initialize the SDK, create or join a room, publish local tracks, subscribe to remote tracks, and update the UI as participants change. Implementation guides that outline room lifecycles, media track management, and event handling can accelerate delivery, as in building video conferencing into an app.

How much does it cost to use a video chat API? Costs usually include per-participant minutes, bandwidth, recording, storage, and sometimes egress or CDN fees. Transparent pricing pages, such as consolidated product and API pricing, make it easier to forecast spend at different concurrency levels.

How do I ensure security and compliance with a video chat API? Use TLS for signaling, DTLS-SRTP for media encryption, short-lived tokens for auth, and strict TURN credentials. Align with frameworks like GDPR or HIPAA by enforcing data locality, retention policies, and audited access controls.