WebRTC Camera

Home Assistant custom component for viewing almost any camera stream in real time using WebRTC and other technologies.

Starting with version 3 the streaming server has been changed from RTSPtoWebRTC to go2rtc.

• go2rtc
• Installation
• Configuration
• Custom card
• Snapshots to Telegram
• Cast or share stream
• Stream to camera
• FAQ
• Debug
• Known work cameras

go2rtc

This component uses the go2rtc application as streaming server:

• lowest possible streaming latency for many supported protocols
• streaming from RTSP, RTMP, HTTP (FLV/MJPEG/JPEG), HomeKit Cameras, USB Cameras and other sources
• streaming to RTSP, WebRTC, MSE/MP4 or MJPEG
• support popular codec H264/H265, AAC, PCMU/PCMA, OPUS
• on the fly transcoding for unsupported codecs via FFmpeg
• autoselect streaming technology based on stream codecs, browser capabilities, network configuration

Read more in the go2rtc docs!

You can install go2rtc in several ways:

1. Basic users - this component will automatically download and run the latest version of go2rtc, you don't need to do anything yourself.
2. Advanced users - install the go2rtc or Frigate 12+ add-on.
3. Hakers - install go2rtc as binary or Docker on any server in LAN.

You can change the go2rtc settings by adding the go2rtc.yaml file to your Hass configuration folder.

Important. go2rtc runs its own web interface on port 1984 without a password. There you can see a list of active streams from cameras. And anyone on your LAN can access them without password. You can disable this in the go2rtc config.

PS. There is also another nice card with go2rtc support - Frigate Lovelace Card.

Installation

Method 1. HACS > Integrations > Plus > WebRTC > Install

Method 2. Manually copy webrtc folder from latest release to /config/custom_components folder.

url: /webrtc/webrtc-camera.js
type: module

Configuration

Settings > Devices & Services > Add Integration > WebRTC

If the integration is not in the list, you need to clear the browser cache.

Component doesn't create devices and entities. It creates only two services and lovelace custom card.

Custom card

As a url you can use any protocol supported in go2rtc or specify the stream name from the go2rtc config.
As a entity you can use almost any camera from Hass.

Minimal

type: 'custom:webrtc-camera'
url: 'rtsp://rtsp:[email protected]:554/av_stream/ch0'

or

type: 'custom:webrtc-camera'
entity: camera.generic_stream  # change to your camera entity_id

Full

type: 'custom:webrtc-camera'
url: 'rtsp://rtsp:[email protected]:554/av_stream/ch0'

ui: true  # custom video controls, default false

digital_ptz:  # digital zoom and pan via mouse/touch. Defaults to:
  mouse_drag_pan: true 
  mouse_wheel_zoom: true
  mouse_double_click_zoom: true
  touch_drag_pan: true 
  touch_pinch_zoom: true  
  touch_tap_drag_zoom: true 
  persist: true  # zoom factor and viewport position survive page reloads

# digital_ptz: false  # to disable all mouse/touch digital zoom and pan

title: My super camera  # optional card title
poster: https://home-assistant.io/images/cast/splash.png  # still image when stream is loading
muted: true  # initial mute toggle state, default is false (unmuted)

intersection: 0.75  # auto stop stream when less than 75% of video element is in the screen, 50% by default
background: true  # run stream when not displayed (ex. for quick video loading), default false

shortcuts:  # custom shortcuts, default none
- name: Record
  icon: mdi:record-circle-outline
  service: switch.toggle
  service_data:
    entity_id: switch.camera_record

mode: webrtc,mse,hls,mjpeg  # also available - webrtc/tcp

Pan, tilt, zoom controls: PTZ config examples.

Video aspect ratio issue

style: "video {aspect-ratio: 16/9; object-fit: fill;}"

Video rotation

1. On client (free CPU):

   style: 'video {transform: rotate(90deg); aspect-ratio: 1}'

2. On server - FFmpeg transcoding (high CPU cost)

Hide mode label

style: '.mode {display: none}'

Shortcuts position

style: ".shortcuts {left: unset; top: 25px; right: 5px; display: flex; flex-direction: column}"

PTZ position

style: ".ptz {right: unset; left: 10px}"

Mode label position

style: '.header {bottom: 6px} .mode {position: absolute; bottom: 0px}'

Header line position

style: '.header {top: unset; bottom: 6px}'

Snapshots to Telegram

read more

Cast or share stream

Component support streaming to Google Cast Chromecast devices (including Android TV and Google Smart Screen). Read more in wiki.

Also component support creating a temporary or permanent link to a stream without sharing access to you Home Assistant. Read more in wiki.

Stream to camera

go2rtc support play audio files (ex. music or TTS) and live streams (ex. radio) on cameras with two way audio support. You need to:

1. Check if your camera has supported two way audio source
2. Setup camera stream in go2rtc.yaml config
3. Check audio codec, that your camera supports
4. Create virtual Media Players for your cameras in configuration.yaml:

media_player:
  - platform: webrtc
    name: Dahua Camera
    stream: dahua
    audio: pcmu/48000
  - platform: webrtc
    name: Tapo Camera
    stream: tapo
    audio: pcma

FAQ

Q. Exernal access with WebRTC doesn't work
A. Read more and don't create new issues.

Q. Audio doesn't work
A. Check what audio codec your camera outputs. And what technology do you use to watch videos. Different technologies support different codecs.

Q. External access on the iPhone not in real time
A. The iPhone browser does not support modern web technologies. It's hard to believe, but it's true. If you haven't setup external access for WebRTC - you will get a chopped stream of keyframes in MP4 format.

Q. Stream in macOS app not in real time
A. Support for modern web technologies is blocked in the macOS app. You will get a chopped stream of keyframes in MP4 format.

Debug

Add to your configuration.yaml:

logger:
  default: warning
  logs:
    custom_components.webrtc: debug

Known work cameras