WebRTC Video Processing and Codec Requirements
RFC 7742
Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) A.B. Roach
Request for Comments: 7742 Mozilla
Category: Standards Track March 2016
ISSN: 2070-1721
WebRTC Video Processing and Codec Requirements
Abstract
This specification provides the requirements and considerations for
WebRTC applications to send and receive video across a network. It
specifies the video processing that is required as well as video
codecs and their parameters.
Status of This Memo
This is an Internet Standards Track document.
This document is a product of the Internet Engineering Task Force
(IETF). It represents the consensus of the IETF community. It has
received public review and has been approved for publication by the
Internet Engineering Steering Group (IESG). Further information on
Internet Standards is available in Section 2 of RFC 5741.
Information about the current status of this document, any errata,
and how to provide feedback on it may be obtained at
http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc7742.
Copyright Notice
Copyright (c) 2016 IETF Trust and the persons identified as the
document authors. All rights reserved.
This document is subject to BCP 78 and the IETF Trust's Legal
Provisions Relating to IETF Documents
(http://trustee.ietf.org/license-info) in effect on the date of
publication of this document. Please review these documents
carefully, as they describe your rights and restrictions with respect
to this document. Code Components extracted from this document must
include Simplified BSD License text as described in Section 4.e of
the Trust Legal Provisions and are provided without warranty as
described in the Simplified BSD License.
Roach Standards Track [Page 1]
RFC 7742 WebRTC Video March 2016
Table of Contents
1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
2. Terminology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
3. Pre- and Post-Processing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
3.1. Camera-Source Video . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
3.2. Screen-Source Video . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
4. Stream Orientation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
5. Mandatory-to-Implement Video Codec . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
6. Codec-Specific Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
6.1. VP8 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
6.2. H.264 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
7. Security Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
8. References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
8.1. Normative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
8.2. Informative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Acknowledgements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Author's Address . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
1. Introduction
One of the major functions of WebRTC endpoints is the ability to send
and receive interactive video. The video might come from a camera, a
screen recording, a stored file, or some other source. This
specification provides the requirements and considerations for WebRTC
applications to send and receive video across a network. It
specifies the video processing that is required as well as video
codecs and their parameters.
Note that this document only discusses those issues dealing with
video-codec handling. Issues that are related to transport of media
streams across the network are specified in [WebRTC-RTP-USAGE].
2. Terminology
The key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL NOT",
"SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "MAY", and "OPTIONAL" in this
document are to be interpreted as described in [RFC2119].
The following definitions are used in this document:
o A WebRTC browser (also called a WebRTC User Agent or WebRTC UA) is
something that conforms to both the protocol specification and the
Javascript API (see [RTCWEB-OVERVIEW]).
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RFC 7742 WebRTC Video March 2016
o A WebRTC non-browser is something that conforms to the protocol
specification, but it does not claim to implement the Javascript
API. This can also be called a "WebRTC device" or "WebRTC native
application".
o A WebRTC endpoint is either a WebRTC browser or a WebRTC non-
browser. It conforms to the protocol specification.
o A WebRTC-compatible endpoint is an endpoint that is able to
successfully communicate with a WebRTC endpoint but may fail to
meet some requirements of a WebRTC endpoint. This may limit where
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