Access camera from a browser

Question

Is it possible to access the camera (built-in on Apples) from a browser?

Optimal solution would be client-side javascript. Looking to avoid using Java or Flash.

See: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/6976079/html-5-streaming-webcam-video/6976093#6976093 — Ayush, Aug 19 '12 at 06:48
@Aesthete: quite like the HTML5 `geolocation` object, it would request the permission first. — Ayush, Aug 19 '12 at 06:49
From what I remembered, Flash can access the webcam/camera. I have doubt about JS. — nhahtdh, Aug 19 '12 at 06:50

score 19 · Answer 1 · edited Aug 04 '18 at 19:08

As of 2017, WebKit announces support for WebRTC on Safari

Now you can access them with video and standard javascript WebRTC

E.g.

var video = document.createElement('video');
video.setAttribute('playsinline', '');
video.setAttribute('autoplay', '');
video.setAttribute('muted', '');
video.style.width = '200px';
video.style.height = '200px';

/* Setting up the constraint */
var facingMode = "user"; // Can be 'user' or 'environment' to access back or front camera (NEAT!)
var constraints = {
  audio: false,
  video: {
   facingMode: facingMode
  }
};

/* Stream it to video element */
navigator.mediaDevices.getUserMedia(constraints).then(function success(stream) {
  video.srcObject = stream;
});

Have a play with it.

Hi, but ios webview is still not supported, is it? Do you have any workaround to access camera in ios webview? Other issue reference: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/54319924/access-camera-or-webcam-without-webrtc Thanks — Alvin Theodora, Jan 23 '19 at 05:27

score 17 · Answer 2 · answered Aug 19 '12 at 06:51

The HTML5 spec does allow accessing the webcamera, but last I checked, it is far from finalized, and has very, very little browser support.

This is a link to get you started: http://www.html5rocks.com/en/tutorials/getusermedia/intro/

You'll probably have to use flash if you want it to work cross-browser.

W3 draft

alex · Answer 3 · 2016-12-08T16:34:31.597

6

There is a really cool solution from Danny Markov for that. It uses navigator.getUserMedia method and should work in modern browsers. I have tested it successfully with Firefox and Chrome. IE didn't work:

Here is a demo:

https://tutorialzine.github.io/pwa-photobooth/

Link to Danny Markovs description page:

http://tutorialzine.com/2016/09/everything-you-should-know-about-progressive-web-apps/

Link to GitHub:

https://github.com/tutorialzine/pwa-photobooth/

edited Dec 08 '16 at 16:34

answered Dec 08 '16 at 16:23

alex

221
7
11

1

THis doesn't work on iOS 10 devices (havent tested anything else). It says `this browser doesnt support getUserMedia` or something along those lines. – jdmdevdotnet Jul 28 '17 at 14:20

score 4 · Answer 4 · answered May 25 '21 at 18:22

Yes it is possible to access the camera from the browser, following is the code that worked for me

<html><head>
</head><body>
    <video src="" ></video>
    <br />
<button id='flipCamera'>Flip</button>
</body>
<script>
  var front = false;
var video = document.querySelector('video');
  document.getElementById('flipCamera').onclick = function() { front = !front; };
  var constraints = { video: { facingMode: (front? "user" : "environment"), width: 640, height: 480  } };
  navigator.mediaDevices.getUserMedia(constraints)
  .then(function(mediaStream) {
    video.srcObject = mediaStream;
    video.onloadedmetadata = function(e) {
    video.play();
};
})
.catch(function(err) { console.log(err.name + ": " + err.message); })
</script></html>

score 3 · Answer 5 · answered Aug 19 '12 at 06:53

3

Possible with HTML5.

http://www.html5rocks.com/en/tutorials/getusermedia/intro/

answered Aug 19 '12 at 06:53

Justin

42,716
77
201
296

score 2 · Answer 6 · answered Aug 19 '12 at 06:57

You can use HTML5 for this:

<video autoplay></video>
<script>
  var onFailSoHard = function(e) {
    console.log('Reeeejected!', e);
  };

  // Not showing vendor prefixes.
  navigator.getUserMedia({video: true, audio: true}, function(localMediaStream) {
    var video = document.querySelector('video');
    video.src = window.URL.createObjectURL(localMediaStream);

    // Note: onloadedmetadata doesn't fire in Chrome when using it with getUserMedia.
    // See crbug.com/110938.
    video.onloadedmetadata = function(e) {
      // Ready to go. Do some stuff.
    };
  }, onFailSoHard);
</script>

Source

score 2 · Answer 7 · answered Dec 09 '20 at 19:30

    <style type="text/css">
        #container {
            margin: 0px auto;
            width: 500px;
            height: 375px;
            border: 10px #333 solid;
        }

        #videoElement {
          width: 500px;
          height: 375px;
          background-color: #777;
        }
    </style>    
<div id="container">
            <video autoplay="true" id="videoElement"></video>
        </div>
        <script type="text/javascript">
          var video = document.querySelector("#videoElement");
          navigator.getUserMedia = navigator.getUserMedia||navigator.webkitGetUserMedia||navigator.mozGetUserMedia||navigator.msGetUserMedia||navigator.oGetUserMedia;
    
          if(navigator.getUserMedia) {
            navigator.getUserMedia({video:true}, handleVideo, videoError);
          }
    
          function handleVideo(stream) {
            video.srcObject=stream;
            video.play();
          }
    
          function videoError(e) {
    
          }
        </script>

`navigator.getUserMedia()` is [deprecated](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/Navigator/getUserMedia). Use the newer version [`navigator.mediaDevices.getUserMedia()`](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/MediaDevices/getUserMedia) instead. — Splines, Apr 29 '22 at 21:39

score 0 · Answer 8 · answered Aug 19 '12 at 06:59

0

Video Tutorial: Accessing the Camera with HTML5 & appMobi API will be helpful for you.

Also, you may try the getUserMedia method (supported by Opera 12)

enter image description here

answered Aug 19 '12 at 06:59

Alfred

21,058
61
167
249

The link doesn't seem to go to a tutorial anymore – Stretch0 Aug 12 '22 at 09:50

score 0 · Answer 9 · answered Dec 31 '20 at 14:54

**SIMPLE JAVASCRIPT VANILLA **

var video = document.querySelector("#videoElement");

if (navigator.mediaDevices.getUserMedia) {
    navigator.mediaDevices.getUserMedia({ video: true })
        .then(function (stream) {
            video.srcObject = stream;
        })
        .catch(function (err0r) {
            console.log("Something went wrong!");
        });
}

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta charset="utf-8">
<meta content="stuff, to, help, search, engines, not" name="keywords">
<meta content="What this page is about." name="description">
<meta content="Display Webcam Stream" name="title">
<title>Display Webcam Stream</title>
<style>
  #container{
   align-self: center;
   margin-left: 350px;
   align-items: center;
   justify-content: center;
position: relative;
    width: 1000px;
    height: 1000px;
       background-color: black;
       padding: 3px;
  }
  #videoElement{
    transform: rotate(90deg);
   align-self: center;
   height: 50a0px;
   left: 20;
   width: 700px;
   position:absolute;
   padding: 1px;
   top: 120px;
  }
</style>
</head>
  
<body>
<div id="container">
    <video autoplay="true" id="videoElement">
    </video>
</div>
<script src="index.js">

</script>
</body>
</html>

It was just a black background on Safari and Chrome. It asked permission to use the camera but nothing appeared. — Ollie, Feb 10 '23 at 23:25

Access camera from a browser

9 Answers9

Linked

Related