webrtc-adapter

What is webrtc-adapter?

The webrtc-adapter npm package is a shim to insulate apps from spec changes and prefix differences in WebRTC APIs. It helps developers write code that works across different browsers by providing a consistent API.

What are webrtc-adapter's main functionalities?

Browser Compatibility

The webrtc-adapter package helps ensure that WebRTC code is compatible across different browsers by normalizing the API differences. This code sample demonstrates how to use the adapter to get browser details.

const adapter = require('webrtc-adapter');
console.log(adapter.browserDetails.browser); // Outputs the browser name
console.log(adapter.browserDetails.version); // Outputs the browser version

Unified API

The webrtc-adapter package provides a unified API for accessing media devices, making it easier to write cross-browser WebRTC applications. This code sample shows how to use the adapter to access the user's media devices.

const adapter = require('webrtc-adapter');
const getUserMedia = navigator.mediaDevices.getUserMedia || navigator.getUserMedia || navigator.webkitGetUserMedia || navigator.mozGetUserMedia;
getUserMedia({ video: true, audio: true })
  .then(stream => {
    console.log('Got MediaStream:', stream);
  })
  .catch(error => {
    console.error('Error accessing media devices.', error);
  });

Peer Connection

The webrtc-adapter package helps manage peer connections by normalizing the API across different browsers. This code sample demonstrates how to create a peer connection and handle ICE candidates.

const adapter = require('webrtc-adapter');
const pc = new RTCPeerConnection();
pc.onicecandidate = event => {
  if (event.candidate) {
    console.log('New ICE candidate:', event.candidate);
  }
};
pc.createOffer()
  .then(offer => pc.setLocalDescription(offer))
  .then(() => console.log('Offer created and set as local description'))
  .catch(error => console.error('Error creating offer:', error));

Other packages similar to webrtc-adapter

simple-peer

The simple-peer package is a lightweight wrapper around the WebRTC API that simplifies peer-to-peer data, video, and audio connections. Unlike webrtc-adapter, which focuses on normalizing the WebRTC API across browsers, simple-peer provides a higher-level abstraction for creating and managing peer connections.

peerjs

The peerjs package is a library that simplifies WebRTC peer-to-peer data, video, and audio connections. It provides a server component for managing peer connections, which is different from webrtc-adapter's focus on API normalization. PeerJS is more focused on providing an easy-to-use API for creating peer connections.

rtcpeerconnection

The rtcpeerconnection package is a simple wrapper around the RTCPeerConnection API, providing a more straightforward interface for creating and managing WebRTC connections. Unlike webrtc-adapter, which aims to normalize the WebRTC API across different browsers, rtcpeerconnection focuses on simplifying the use of the RTCPeerConnection API.

README

WebRTC adapter

[adapter.js] is a shim to insulate apps from spec changes and prefix differences. In fact, the standards and protocols used for WebRTC implementations are highly stable, and there are only a few prefixed names. For full interop information, see webrtc.org/web-apis/interop.

Install

Bower

bower install webrtc-adapter#gh-pages

One caveat is that the version is gh-pages hence you will get the latest adapter.js unless you manually specify a version. See Usage instructions for more details.

NPM

npm install webrtc-adapter

Usage

NPM

Copy to desired location in your src tree or use a minify/vulcanize tool (node_modules is usually not published with the code). See webrtc/samples repo as an example on how you can do this.

Prebuilt releases

Web

In the gh-pages branch prebuilt ready to use files can be downloaded/linked directly. Latest version can be found at http://webrtc.github.io/adapter/adapter-latest.js. Specific versions can be found at http://webrtc.github.io/adapter/adapter-N.N.N.js, e.g. http://webrtc.github.io/adapter/adapter-1.0.2.js.

Bower

You will find adapter.js in bower_components/webrtc-adapter/.

Due to using the gh-pages branch as a version, you cannot use the bower package version for making sure you are using the correct version, rather you have to statically link the adapter-version file yourself, e.g. if you want version 1.0.5 you have to use the following file: bower_components/webrtc-adapter/adapter-1.0.5.js.

NPM

In node_modules/webrtc-adapter/out/ folder you will find 4 files:

• adapter.js - includes all the shims and is visible in the browser under the global adapter object (window.adapter).
• adapter_no_edge.js - same as above but does not include the Microsoft Edge (ORTC) shim.
• adapter_no_edge_no_global.js - same as above but is not exposed/visible in the browser (you cannot call/interact with the shims in the browser).
• adapter_no_global.js - same as adapter.js but is not exposed/visible in the browser (you cannot call/interact with the shims in the browser).

Include the file that suits your need in your project.

Development

Detailed information on developing in the webrtc github repo can be found in the WebRTC GitHub repo developer's guide.

Head over to test/README.md and get started developing.

Publish a new version

• Go the the adapter repository root directory
• Make sure your repository is clean, i.e. no untracked files etc
• Run npm version patch -m 'bump to %s' and type in your password lots of times (setting up credential caching is probably a good idea).
• Done! There should now be a new release published to NPM and the gh-pages branch.

Note: Currently only tested on Linux, not sure about Mac but will definitely not work on Windows.