How to Build a Raspberry Pi Camera for Seamless WebRTC Streaming

09 September 2024 - 3 mins read time
Tags: Raspberry Pi Linux How To

How to Build a Raspberry Pi Camera for Seamless WebRTC Streaming

I recently completed a project using the Pi Zero 2 W and the Camera Module 3. My goal was to stream a live feed from the camera and use WebRTC to integrate it with HTML. After some trial and error, I found MediaMTX to be the best package for WebRTC. I wouldn’t have been able to do this without stumbling upon a helpful Reddit post.

Hardware & Operating System

• Pi Zero 2 W
• Pi Camera Module 3
• Pi 12.5W Micro USB Power Supply
• Pi Zero Case
• SanDisk Extreme PRO SDHC And SDXC UHS-I Card
• Pi OS Lite (32-bit)

Making it all work

1. Set up your SD card using Raspberry Pi Imager:

   • Device: Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W
   • OS: Raspberry Pi OS (other) -> Raspberry Pi OS Lite (32-bit) (Bookworm, No GUI)
   • Configure settings to set up your user/pass and SSID for Wi-Fi.

2. After the first boot, update your Pi:

    sudo apt update
    sudo apt full-upgrade
   

3. Install the libcamera apps (drivers for the camera):

    sudo apt install libcamera-apps
   

4. Test to ensure the camera is recognized by the Pi:

    libcamera-hello --list-cameras
   

   You should see output similar to this:

   

5. Download and uncompress MediaMTX:

    wget https://github.com/bluenviron/mediamtx/releases/download/v1.9.0/mediamtx_v1.9.0_linux_armv7.tar.gz
    tar -xvzf mediamtx_v1.9.0_linux_armv7.tar.gz
   

6. Remove the LICENSE file (make sure to read it first): (optional)

    sudo rm -rf LICENSE
   

7. Move the files to the correct locations and set permissions:

    sudo mv mediamtx /usr/local/bin/
    sudo mv mediamtx.yml /usr/local/etc/
    sudo chmod +x /usr/local/bin/mediamtx
   

8. Modify the YAML configuration file:

    sudo nano /usr/local/etc/mediamtx.yml
   

   Scroll to the bottom and add the following under paths::

    paths:
      cam:
        source: rpiCamera
   

   Ensure proper indentation (2 spaces per level). Save and exit nano (Ctrl + O, Ctrl + X).

   Optional

   I also change rpiCameraTextOverlayEnable = true and I set a description in the rpiCameraTextOverlay. These settings are just above the paths in the rpi section. You can refer > to the documentation for this.

   https://github.com/bluenviron/mediamtx?tab=readme-ov-file#raspberry-pi-cameras

9. Set up the service file:

    sudo tee /etc/systemd/system/mediamtx.service >/dev/null << EOF
    [Unit]
    Wants=network.target
    [Service]
    ExecStart=/usr/local/bin/mediamtx /usr/local/etc/mediamtx.yml
    [Install]
    WantedBy=multi-user.target
    EOF
   

10. Set up the daemon, enable the service, start the service, and check its status:

     sudo systemctl daemon-reload
     sudo systemctl enable mediamtx
     sudo systemctl start mediamtx
     sudo systemctl status mediamtx
    

    The status output should look something like this:

    

11. If you encounter any errors, check the service log file:

     sudo journalctl -u mediamtx.service
    

12. Verify everything is working by visiting:

     http://yourIPaddress:8889/cam
    

    You should see a live video feed.

    

    Hope this helps!