WebRTC (Web Real-Time Communication) is a free and open-source project that provides real-time communication (RTC) to web browsers and mobile applications via application programming interfaces (APIs). It enables audio and video communication to function within web pages by allowing direct peer-to-peer connection, removing the need to install plugins or download native programs. WebRTC specifications have been released by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) and the Internet Engineering Task Force and are supported by Apple, Google, Microsoft, Mozilla, and Opera.
According to the Coherent Market Insights website, the objective of the project is to "enable rich, high-quality RTC apps to be developed for the browser, mobile platforms, and IoT devices, and allow them all to communicate over a standard set of protocols".
WebRTC enables browsers to directly transmit files to one another, minimizing or eliminating the requirement for server-side file hosting. WebTorrent employs a WebRTC transport to enable peer-to-peer file sharing in the browser through the BitTorrent protocol. Some file-sharing services employ it to allow users to send files directly to one another in their browsers, albeit the uploader must keep the tab open until the content is downloaded. Some CDNs, like Microsoft-owned Peer5, leverage the client's bandwidth to post material to other connected peers, allowing each peer to act as an edge server.
