react-webcam vs jslib-html5-camera-photo vs react-html5-camera-photo
Camera Integration Libraries for Web Development Comparison
1 Year
react-webcamjslib-html5-camera-photoreact-html5-camera-photo
What's Camera Integration Libraries for Web Development?

Camera integration libraries provide developers with tools to access and utilize camera functionalities in web applications. They enable features such as capturing images and video streams directly from the user's device, facilitating functionalities like photo uploads, video conferencing, and augmented reality experiences. These libraries abstract the complexities of working with the MediaDevices API, making it easier to implement camera-related features in web applications.

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react-webcam344,3941,686168 kB66a year agoMIT
jslib-html5-camera-photo23,20413597.4 kB8-MIT
react-html5-camera-photo20,192212246 kB14-MIT
Feature Comparison: react-webcam vs jslib-html5-camera-photo vs react-html5-camera-photo

Framework Compatibility

  • react-webcam:

    Also built for React, react-webcam provides a more comprehensive solution for webcam integration, allowing for easy manipulation of video streams and image captures within React's ecosystem.

  • jslib-html5-camera-photo:

    This library is framework-agnostic and can be used in any JavaScript environment. It is ideal for projects that do not use a specific framework or where minimal dependencies are preferred.

  • react-html5-camera-photo:

    Designed specifically for React, this library integrates seamlessly with React components, making it easy to manage state and lifecycle methods associated with camera functionality.

Ease of Use

  • react-webcam:

    react-webcam provides an intuitive API for capturing images and streaming video, making it easy for developers to implement camera features without extensive setup.

  • jslib-html5-camera-photo:

    This library offers a simple API for capturing photos, but may require more boilerplate code compared to React-specific libraries. Developers need to handle state and UI updates manually.

  • react-html5-camera-photo:

    With a straightforward API tailored for React, this library simplifies the process of integrating camera features, allowing developers to focus on building their application rather than managing complex interactions.

Customization Options

  • react-webcam:

    react-webcam offers extensive customization options, including the ability to manipulate video streams, apply effects, and control various camera settings, making it suitable for applications that require advanced features.

  • jslib-html5-camera-photo:

    Customization is possible, but it may require more effort as the library does not provide built-in options for advanced features like filters or effects.

  • react-html5-camera-photo:

    This library allows for some customization through props, enabling developers to adjust settings like image quality and aspect ratio easily, but it may not support extensive customization out of the box.

Performance

  • react-webcam:

    Designed to handle video streams efficiently, react-webcam is suitable for applications requiring real-time video processing, offering better performance for webcam-related tasks.

  • jslib-html5-camera-photo:

    Performance is generally good for basic image capture, but may vary based on the implementation and the complexity of the application.

  • react-html5-camera-photo:

    Optimized for React, this library performs well in typical use cases, but performance may degrade with complex state management or large component trees.

Community and Support

  • react-webcam:

    With a strong community and active maintenance, react-webcam offers good documentation and support, making it a reliable choice for developers looking for webcam functionality.

  • jslib-html5-camera-photo:

    Being a smaller library, it may have limited community support and fewer resources available for troubleshooting compared to more popular libraries.

  • react-html5-camera-photo:

    This library benefits from being part of the React ecosystem, which has a large community and extensive documentation, making it easier to find support and examples.

How to Choose: react-webcam vs jslib-html5-camera-photo vs react-html5-camera-photo
  • react-webcam:

    Opt for react-webcam if you require more advanced features such as video streaming, webcam previews, and the ability to capture images in various formats. This library is also tailored for React and offers extensive customization options, making it suitable for applications that need robust camera capabilities.

  • jslib-html5-camera-photo:

    Choose jslib-html5-camera-photo if you need a lightweight, vanilla JavaScript solution that is not tied to any specific framework. It is ideal for projects where you want to keep dependencies minimal and have full control over the implementation without the overhead of a framework.

  • react-html5-camera-photo:

    Select react-html5-camera-photo if you are building a React application and want a straightforward way to integrate camera functionality. This library is designed specifically for React, providing a simple API and leveraging React's component lifecycle for better integration with your app's state management.

README for react-webcam

react-webcam

Build Status downloads

DEMO: https://codepen.io/mozmorris/pen/JLZdoP

https://www.npmjs.com/package/react-webcam

Webcam component for React. See http://caniuse.com/#feat=stream for browser compatibility.

Note: Browsers will throw an error if the page is loaded from insecure origin. I.e. Use https.

Installation

# with npm
npm install react-webcam

# with yarn
yarn add react-webcam

Demo

https://codepen.io/mozmorris/pen/JLZdoP

Usage

import React from "react";
import Webcam from "react-webcam";

const WebcamComponent = () => <Webcam />;

Props

The props here are specific to this component but one can pass any prop to the underlying video tag eg className, style, muted, etc

| prop | type | default | notes | |---------------------------|----------|--------------|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | audio | boolean | false | enable/disable audio | | audioConstraints | object | | MediaStreamConstraint(s) for the audio | | disablePictureInPicture | boolean | false | disable Picture-in-Picture | | forceScreenshotSourceSize | boolean | false | uses size of underlying source video stream (and thus ignores other size related props) | | imageSmoothing | boolean | true | pixel smoothing of the screenshot taken | | mirrored | boolean | false | show camera preview and get the screenshot mirrored | | minScreenshotHeight | number | | min height of screenshot | | minScreenshotWidth | number | | min width of screenshot | | onUserMedia | function | noop | callback for when component receives a media stream | | onUserMediaError | function | noop | callback for when component can't receive a media stream with MediaStreamError param | | screenshotFormat | string | 'image/webp' | format of screenshot | | screenshotQuality | number | 0.92 | quality of screenshot(0 to 1) | | videoConstraints | object | | MediaStreamConstraints(s) for the video |

Methods

getScreenshot - Returns a base64 encoded string of the current webcam image. Example:

https://codepen.io/mozmorris/pen/gOOoqpw

You may also pass in an optional dimensions object:

getScreenshot({width: 1920, height: 1080});

The Constraints

We can build a constraints object by passing it to the videoConstraints prop. This gets passed into getUserMedia method. Please take a look at the MDN docs to get an understanding how this works.

https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/MediaDevices/getUserMedia https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/Media_Streams_API/Constraints

As an example take a look at this CodePen demo https://codepen.io/mozmorris/pen/GRpEQwK?editors=0010 which shows how to build a custom aspect ratio for the video.

Screenshot (via render props)

const videoConstraints = {
  width: 1280,
  height: 720,
  facingMode: "user"
};

const WebcamCapture = () => (
  <Webcam
    audio={false}
    height={720}
    screenshotFormat="image/jpeg"
    width={1280}
    videoConstraints={videoConstraints}
  >
    {({ getScreenshot }) => (
      <button
        onClick={() => {
          const imageSrc = getScreenshot()
        }}
      >
        Capture photo
      </button>
    )}
  </Webcam>
);

Screenshot (via ref)

const videoConstraints = {
  width: 1280,
  height: 720,
  facingMode: "user"
};

const WebcamCapture = () => {
  const webcamRef = React.useRef(null);
  const capture = React.useCallback(
    () => {
      const imageSrc = webcamRef.current.getScreenshot();
    },
    [webcamRef]
  );
  return (
    <>
      <Webcam
        audio={false}
        height={720}
        ref={webcamRef}
        screenshotFormat="image/jpeg"
        width={1280}
        videoConstraints={videoConstraints}
      />
      <button onClick={capture}>Capture photo</button>
    </>
  );
};

Capturing video

It is posible to capture video with <Webcam /> using the MediaStream Recording API.

You can find an example https://codepen.io/mozmorris/pen/yLYKzyp?editors=0010.

Choosing a camera

User/Selfie/forward facing camera

class WebcamCapture extends React.Component {
  render() {
    const videoConstraints = {
      facingMode: "user"
    };

    return <Webcam videoConstraints={videoConstraints} />;
  }
}

Environment/Facing-Out camera

class WebcamCapture extends React.Component {
  render() {
    const videoConstraints = {
      facingMode: { exact: "environment" }
    };

    return <Webcam videoConstraints={videoConstraints} />;
  }
}

For more information on facingMode, please see the MDN web docs https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/MediaTrackConstraints/facingMode

Show all cameras by deviceId

const WebcamCapture = () => {
  const [deviceId, setDeviceId] = React.useState({});
  const [devices, setDevices] = React.useState([]);

  const handleDevices = React.useCallback(
    mediaDevices =>
      setDevices(mediaDevices.filter(({ kind }) => kind === "videoinput")),
    [setDevices]
  );

  React.useEffect(
    () => {
      navigator.mediaDevices.enumerateDevices().then(handleDevices);
    },
    [handleDevices]
  );

  return (
    <>
      {devices.map((device, key) => (
          <div>
            <Webcam audio={false} videoConstraints={{ deviceId: device.deviceId }} />
            {device.label || `Device ${key + 1}`}
          </div>

        ))}
    </>
  );
};

Recording a stream

https://codepen.io/mozmorris/pen/yLYKzyp?editors=0011

Using within an iframe

The Webcam component will fail to load when used inside a cross-origin iframe in newer version of Chrome (> 64). In order to overcome this security restriction a special allow attribute needs to be added to the iframe tag specifying microphone and camera as the required permissions like in the below example:

<iframe src="https://my-website.com/page-with-webcam" allow="camera; microphone;"/>

Mirrored video but non-mirrored screenshot

Add mirrored prop to the component will make the video and the screenshot be mirrored, but sometimes you need to show a mirrored video but take a non-mirrored screenshot, to accomplish that, you just need to add this CSS to your project:

video {
  transform: scaleX(-1);
}

You can find an example at https://codepen.io/mozmorris/pen/oNygXwz?editors=0110.

License

MIT