LetsChat1.0

As part of my introduction to RTC, I decided to build a simple chat application that allows users to chat with each other in real time video and audio. It is built using WebRTC and Socket.io.

Features

• Real time video and audio chat
• Join a room and chat with other users

Limitations

This is a very basic application and only allows a maximum of 2 users to chat with each other. It is also not very secure and does not have any authentication. It is only meant to be a proof of concept.

What I learnt from this project

• How to use WebRTC RTC is a set of JavaScript APIs that allow you to capture and share audio and video streams. It also allows you to share data between peers.

WebRTC is very fast and efficient.

• Connection is P2P
• Real time communication between browsers. Data is not sent to a server.

What is WebSockets?

WebSockets is a protocol that allows for full duplex communication between a client and a server. It is a persistent connection between the client and the server. It is a TCP connection that is kept open and allows for real time communication between the client and the server.

• connection is P2S (Peer to Server)
• Real time communication between browsers and server. Data is sent to a server.
• Latency is higher than WebRTC

Why use WebRTC instead of WebSockets?

WebRTC uses UDP (User Datagram Protocol) which is faster than TCP (Transmission Control Protocol) which is used by WebSockets but

• UDP is not reliable. It does not guarantee delivery of data.

• UDP is not secure. It does not validate the data that is sent.

• WebRTC is not supported by all browsers. It is supported by Chrome, Firefox and Opera. It is not supported by IE and Safari.

• WebRTC has no built in signaling mechanism. It is up to the developer to implement a signaling mechanism. This is where WebSockets comes in. WebSockets is used to send signaling data between the peers.

Real time communication Solution?

use WebRTC + WebSock

Third party libraries used

• Socket.io - Socket.IO enables real-time bidirectional event-based communication. It works on every platform, browser or device, focusing equally on reliability and speed.

• A gora - Agora.io is a real-time video and voice platform that enables developers to build high-quality, real-time, and interactive voice and video applications.

• WebRTC - WebRTC is a free, open project that provides browsers and mobile applications with Real-Time Communications (RTC) capabilities via simple APIs. The WebRTC components have been optimized to best serve this purpose.