This document provides an overview of what WebRTC is and what it can be used for by Dan Jenkins, a Node.js developer and founder of Nimble Ape Ltd. Some key points include: - WebRTC allows for real-time communication like video calls and file sharing directly in the browser without plugins. - It enables peer-to-peer connections using APIs for video, audio, and data sharing between any number of users. - While WebRTC has potential for many uses, it also has security concerns and implementing it requires additional components like a signaling server. - Jenkins provides examples of how WebRTC could be used for customer support, remote work, and data transfers in games.

1. What is WebRTC?
What can I do with it?
Dan Jenkins
Founder of Nimble Ape Ltd
Developer at Respoke
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2. Who am I?
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3. / Who am I?
Dan Jenkins
Node.js Developer
Love Lego & Technic
General Geek
Founder of Nimble Ape Ltd
❤️ open source
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4. / Who am I?
github.com/danjenkins
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5. / Who am I?
@dan_jenkins
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6. / Who am I?
nimblea.pe | @nimbleapeltd
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7. /
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Who am I?

8. / Who am I?
Got into VoIP years ago
VoIP is difficult
Spent the past year working on a platform called Respoke
Respoke makes WebRTC easier
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WebRTC & I

9. WebRTC
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10. / WebRTC
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Who’s heard of WebRTC?

11. / WebRTC
Who’s developed something
with WebRTC?
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12. / WebRTC
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Who’s used WebRTC?

13. / WebRTC
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Talky.io
Appear.inScreenhero
Hangouts

14. / WebRTC
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Sharefest
Amazon
Mayday
PeerCDN

15. / WebRTC
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Enabled on over 6.2 Billion
Devices By 2018

16. What is WebRTC?
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17. / What is WebRTC?
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Web Real Time Communication

18. / What is WebRTC?
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Disrupt!

19. / What is WebRTC?
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It’s a technology!

20. / What is WebRTC?
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It’s classed as “Experimental”

21. / What is WebRTC?
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It’s encrypted

22. / What is WebRTC?
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Defined by W3C & IETF, just like HTTP

23. / What is WebRTC?
“WebRTC (Web Real-Time Communication) is an API definition
drafted by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) that supports
browser-to-browser applications for voice calling, video chat, and P2P
file sharing without the need of either internal or external plugins.”
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According to wikipedia:

24. OK, but what is it?
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25. / Ok, but what is it?
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Enables Video, Audio and
Data Sharing in your browser,
peer to peer, with no plugins

26. / Ok, but what is it?
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What?! Wait!
Too many words!

27. / Ok, but what is it?
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Video

28. / Ok, but what is it? / Video
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A browser friendly camera…

29. / Ok, but what is it? / Video
But you need a “plugin” for this… shhh!
Don’t tell anyone… It’s for security
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Your screen…

30. / Ok, but what is it?
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Audio

31. / Ok, but what is it? / Audio
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A Mic

32. / Ok, but what is it? / Audio
Audio APIs
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An audio stream from an in
browser source

33. Data Sharing
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34. / Ok, but what is it? / Data Sharing
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This can be pretty
much anything…

35. / Ok, but what is it? / Data Sharing
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An image from canvas…

36. / Ok, but what is it? / Data Sharing
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A file

37. / Ok, but what is it? / Data Sharing
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Web-torrents

38. / Ok, but what is it? / Data Sharing
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Anything!

39. Peer to Peer
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40. / Peer to Peer
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2 peers

41. / Peer to Peer
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3 peers

42. / Peer to Peer
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*n peers

43. / Peer to Peer
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Peers don’t have to
be browsers!

44. / Peer to Peer
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But we’ve had peer to
peer technology before,
what’s different?

45. / Peer to Peer
Direct in your modern browser/app!
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No plugins!

46. Awesome!
So it’s easy to implement?
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47. / Awesome!
It’s primarily a web technology
aimed at web developers
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48. / Awesome!
But unfortunately it’s not simple
to implement
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49. / Awesome!
You’ll need a signalling server
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50. / Awesome! / Signalling
And signalling isn’t
a standard
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51. / Awesome! / Signalling
It might not be very real time
though…
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You could use
carrier pigeons!

52. / Awesome! / Signalling
But seriously, there are open
source ones…
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53. / Awesome! / Signalling
And many providers!
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54. / Awesome!
They’re evolving all the time…
and they’re all different…
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Browser APIs

55. / Awesome! / Browser APIs
There’s a few to choose from…
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Adapter.js

56. / Awesome! / Browser APIs
They normalise the browsers
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57. /
var RTCPeerConnection = null;
var getUserMedia = null;
var attachMediaStream = null;
var reattachMediaStream = null;
var webrtcDetectedBrowser = null;
function trace(text) {
// This function is used for logging.
if (text[text.length - 1] == 'n') {
text = text.substring(0, text.length - 1);
}
console.log((performance.now() / 1000).toFixed(3) + ": " + text);
}
if (navigator.mozGetUserMedia) {
console.log("This appears to be Firefox");
webrtcDetectedBrowser = "firefox";
// The RTCPeerConnection object.
RTCPeerConnection = mozRTCPeerConnection;
// The RTCSessionDescription object.
RTCSessionDescription = mozRTCSessionDescription;
// The RTCIceCandidate object.
RTCIceCandidate = mozRTCIceCandidate;
// Get UserMedia (only difference is the prefix).
// Code from Adam Barth.
getUserMedia = navigator.mozGetUserMedia.bind(navigator);
// Attach a media stream to an element.
attachMediaStream = function(element, stream) {
console.log("Attaching media stream");
element.mozSrcObject = stream;
element.play();
};
reattachMediaStream = function(to, from) {
console.log("Reattaching media stream");
to.mozSrcObject = from.mozSrcObject;
to.play();
};
Awesome! / Browser APIs
Google has one
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58. / Awesome! / Browser APIs
Plus many others…
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59. / Awesome! / Browser APIs
getUserMedia
RTCPeerConnection
RTCDataChannel
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60. / Awesome! / Browser APIs
Used to ask your user
whether the website can
use your media,
among other things
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getUserMedia

61. / Awesome! / Browser APIs
Handles the
underlying technology
to stream media
between 2 peers
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RTCPeerConnection

62. / Awesome! / Browser APIs
Transfer arbitrary data
between peers.
This is what’s really exciting
about WebRTC.
It makes WebRTC use
cases expand infinitely
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RTCDataChannel

63. / Awesome! / Browser APIs
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(1) getUserMedia
(2) send offer
(3) receive Offer
(4) getUserMedia
(5) send answer
(5) receive answer
(6) media starts streaming
A Simple Diagram…

64. But what about
firewalls?
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65. / Firewalls
Built in mechanisms to help
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66. / Firewalls
A method to go off to a server and get your IP as seen by the world
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STUN

67. / Firewalls
A server to relay your media through, if a peer to peer connection can’t be established
Generally, you need to run one (or more) of these yourself to get good quality
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TURN

68. OK, I get it…
Where can I use it?
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69. / Where can I use it?
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70. / Where can I use it?
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71. / Where can I use it?
PeerConnection API ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✗ ✗ ✔
ORTC API ✗ ✗ ✗ ✗ ✗ ✗
getUserMedia ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✗ ✔
simulcast ✔ ✗ ✗ ✗ ✗ ✗
mediaConstraints ✗ ✗ ✗
TURN support ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✗ ✗ ✔
MediaStream API ✔ ✔ ✗ ✗ ✔
WebAudio Integration ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✗ ✗ ✔
dataChannels ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✗ ✗ ✔
Screen Sharing ✗ ✗ ✗ ✗
Stream re-broadcasting ✗ ✗ ✗ ✗ ✗
Multiple Streams ✔ ✔ ✗ ✗ ✗ ✗ ✔
Solid Interop ✗ ✗
Echo cancellation ✔ ✔ ✗ ✗
It’s complicated
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72. / Where can I use it?
With a plugin…
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LOL…

73. What can I do with it?
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74. / What can I do with it?
Easy answer,
use your imagination
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75. / What can I do with it?
Customer Support
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76. / What can I do with it?
Enable easier remote
working in Contact Centres
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77. / What can I do with it?
Peer to Peer
data transfers in games
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78. / What can I do with it?
Sales
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Look at products in real time

79. / What can I do with it?
And many, many more, you
just need imagination
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80. / What can I do with it?
None of these ideas are new
But they’re being enabled by the open standard
They’ve also got a higher possibility of success
as it’s now cheaper to run the service
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81. Security
Concerns?
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82. / Security Concerns?
Of course there are!
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83. /
https://www.browserleaks.com/webrtc
Security Concerns?
You can obtain a user’s real IP
using WebRTC technology
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84. / Security Concerns?
Without the user ever knowing
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You can transfer ∞ data

85. Things I haven’t even
talked about…
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86. / Not talked about
ICE Candidates
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87. / Not talked about
Including Mesh, SFUs and MCUs
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Network layouts

88. / Not talked about
Encryption
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89. / Not talked about
using canvas for example
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Playing with the streams
in your browser

90. / Not talked about / Canvas
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91. / Not talked about
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Codecs
Opus, G.711, G.722, iLBC, and iSAC
VP8 and H264

92. / Not talked about
And probably a
whole lot more…
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93. / Not talked about
It’s a complex topic
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94. / Not talked about
But it’s not as complicated as VoIP
Everyone can get into it
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95. Want to get started with
WebRTC without having to
deal with signalling and
browser differences?
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96. / Getting started
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Check out Respoke, it’s free!
www.respoke.io

97. Thanks!
Dan Jenkins
@dan_jenkins
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