How to choose the right video streaming technology for your cam site?
First of all, when creating a cam site, one of the main questions you have to consider in the beginning is what video streaming technology to choose?
Even though you do not need to be a developer and a computer geek, or have any coding skills to be a cam site owner, you should understand some technical basics.
So, in this article we are going to help you with that.
There are several live video streaming technologies that may be used in webcam site development. For example, WebRTC, RTMP, HLS, HTML5, etc. Each of them have their features and peculiarities. However, you should keep in mind, that the choice of streaming technology must be based on the type of webcam site you want to create.
One-to-one video chat site
If you want your website to be based on a one-to-one webcam chat, low streaming latency is the top requirement. Therefore, you should provide your users with the opportunity to have private chats and pre-paid appointments just like face-to-face communication in real life. Thus, it’s important to have a quick interaction reaction to maintain the natural flow of communication.
One-to-group video chat site
The second option is to make a one-to-group live video chat site specifying in online webinars or other kinds of video conferencing activity. Consequently, in this case you will need to have such functions as pre-paid events and paid group chats.
One-to-many video chat site
The third case is creating a one-to-many video chat site for mass event broadcasting and free chats with tips and gifts for 1000 and more users in one room. In other words, for this type of webcam site you will need highly-scalable technologies able to serve up to thousands of simultaneous viewers on a stream without crashing.
WebRTC (Web Real-Time Communications)
WebRTC has become the most popular option in recent years. Actually, it is a no-brainer when latency is the main focus. So, WebRTC is the technology mostly suitable for a one-to-one live chat as it delivers live video with minimum streaming latency. It is a HTML5-based solution, that is why it provides a direct peer-to-peer communication without using any third-party plugins or installing a client-side software.
On the other hand, WebRTC requires a video codec for recording, compression, and distribution of live video content. There are several video codecs supported by WebRTC. For instance, H.264 video codec is a modern compression algorithm which provides a high quality video streaming at substantially low bandwidth usage.
It is also possible to use WebRTC for a one-to-group video chat site with the help of a re-broadcasting server. WebRTC is a transfer technology of live video from user to user. That is why, you will need an intermediate redistribution server for scaling.
RTMP (Real-Time Messaging Protocol)
RTMP is the technology of delivering live video with at least 7-8 second latency. In most cases it provides high quality of video, but it needs Flash Player for viewing. It has been probably the best-known media solution from our browsers. Unfortunately, this technology is outdated and Adobe will no longer support it in 2020.
HLS (HTTP Live Streaming)
RTMP can be converted into HLS – streaming protocol that works by breaking the overall stream into a sequence of small HTTP-based file downloads. It means that each download loading one short piece of an overall potentially unbounded transport stream. Also, it commonly works in connection with RTMP and scales up well with CDN for reaching a big audience.
We believe that in live video streaming the quality has a crucial importance, so we always use the latest technologies in our product. Webvideo is a cam chat script based on WebRTC live video streaming protocol. We provide our clients with the best video conferencing experience, both in one-to-one and one-to-many modes.
Want to experience live video chat with minimal latency? Get your free demo!
Got questions? Don’t hesitate to contact us.