In today’s digital landscape, virtual communication has become a vital component for most businesses with most of them utilising real-time communication and streaming to enhance communication.
As such, many online communication platforms leverage WebRTC and WebSocket to facilitate these features. WebRTC enables real-time peer-to-peer communication, while WebSocket provides bidirectional communication between clients and servers.
Table of Contents
- What is WebRTC
- Pros and cons of implementing WebRTC
- What is WebSocket
- Advantages and disadvantages of leveraging WebSocket
- Key differences between WebRTC and WebSocket
- When to use WebRTC
- When to use WebSocket
- When to use WebRTC together with WebSocket
- Final thought
In this blog, we explore what is the WebRTC technology and WebSocket protocol, their use cases, features and architecture, and we also compare and contrast the two technologies
What is WebRTC
Web Real-Time Communication, or in short WebRTC, is a set of powerful technologies that enable real-time communication directly within a web browser.
WebRTC comprises three main components:
What makes WebRTC superior to the other real-time communication technologies, is its ability to enable real-time communication within browsers without the need for any additional plugins or software installations - the Digital Samba’s API is a good example.
WebRTC: advantages and disadvantages of implementing WebRTC
WebRTC offers several advantages that make it a compelling choice for real-time communication.
Pros
However, WebRTC does have some limitations.
Cons
What is WebSocket
WebSocket is a bidirectional communication protocol that allows real-time, full-duplex communication between clients and servers. Unlike traditional HTTP, which operates on a request-response model, WebSocket establishes a persistent connection, enabling efficient and continuous data exchange.
The architecture of WebSocket is based on a client-server model that aims at retaining persistent communication between a client and server. To establish a connection, the WebSocket requires the clients to initiate a handshake.
During this handshake, the client (browser or device) sends a request to upgrade its protocol from HTTP to a WebSocket protocol.
If the server approves the upgrade, a persistent connection that allows data to flow both ways (bidirectional) is established, enabling real-time communication and low-latency data transmission.
WebSocket: pros and cons of leveraging WebSocket
WebSocket provides several advantages that make it a popular choice for real-time communication:
Pros
Cons
However, WebSocket does have some limitations:
Key differences between WebSocket vs WebRTC
While WebRTC focuses on real-time audio, video streaming and video conferencing applications, WebSocket is primarily geared towards data communication, collaborative environments and real-time chat applications.
Here is a comparative breakdown of the key differences between WebRTC and WebSocket:
|
|
WebRTC |
WebSocket |
|
Architecture |
Real-time communication technology |
Bidirectional communication protocol |
|
Use case |
Video conferencing, peer-to-peer communication |
Real-time chat, collaborative environments |
|
WebRTC Low-latency communication |
WebSocket Low-latency communication |
|
|
Video streaming |
Native support for real-time video streaming |
Primarily focused on data communication |
|
Signalling |
Requires signalling server for session establishment |
Does not require explicit signalling |
|
Firewall traversal |
Incorporates NAT traversal techniques |
May require additional configuration for NAT traversal |
|
Scalability |
Limited scalability due to peer-to-peer nature |
Highly scalable with server-based architecture |
|
Complexity |
Can be complex to implement and manage |
Relatively simpler implementation and management |
|
Efficient bandwidth utilisation for media streaming |
Minimal overhead for data communication |
|
|
Security |
WebRTC implements encryption and authentication to protect data transmission across the internet. |
WebSocket implements secure WebSocket connections with wss:// using SSL/TLS encryption solutions. |
When to use WebRTC
As mentioned above, WebRTC technology is an excellent choice for developers building applications that require real-time communication and streaming capabilities. You can group WebRTC applications into 4 broad categories
Use cases for WebSockets
WebSocket is well-suited for various implementations that need real-time, bidirectional communications. Let’s have a look at some of the scenarios where WebSocket can be implemented.
When to use WebRTC together with WebSocket
WebSocket and WebRTC work hand in hand to enhance communication features.
As mentioned above, WebRTC is primarily used to enable real-time communication between devices on the internet. However, for users to experience smooth and seamless video calls, chats and more, there has to be a server to coordinate the communication process among the devices. This coordination process is known as signalling.
Generally, signalling involves the transfer of crucial information between peers. Such information includes:
- Media metadata like codecs and various media types
- Network data such as IP addresses and ports
- Session control messages that initiate and terminate communication
Although WebRTC facilitates real-time video conferencing and streaming features, it lacks the built-in standard signalling features. As a result, developers leverage other protocols to handle the signalling process. Here is where the WebSocket protocol comes into play.
Developers often opt for WebSocket to implement signalling in WebRTC owing to its efficient signalling mechanism to build applications such as bidirectional communication apps, collaborative environments or real-time chat applications.
Final thought
Digital Samba is a video conferencing API leveraging the power of WebRTC and WebSockets to enable high-quality video conferencing and collaboration applications. Our integrated approach allows developers to access the features of WebRTC and WebSockets using the Digital Samba video conferencing API in an easy to setup way.
With Digital Samba, your users will experience high-quality video communication as well as seamless data exchange within your digital communication application.
Upgrade your platform with Digital Samba’s video conferencing API and enjoy the benefits of WebRTC and WebSockets today.
Share this
HTTP vs WebSocket: Real-Time Web Communication Guide
Understanding WebRTC: The Future of Real-Time Communication Technology
