Build from Source
Build pi-webrtc on the device itself: a Raspberry Pi with Raspberry Pi OS Trixie (64-bit), or a Jetson with JetPack 6.
The CI workflows always have the current steps: rpi-build.yml and jetson-build.yml. If this page and a workflow disagree, follow the workflow.
1. Get the source
git clone --recursive https://github.com/mazupo/pi-webrtc.git
cd pi-webrtc--recursive also downloads the submodules. If you cloned without it, run git submodule update --init.
2. Install the packages
Raspberry Pi (Trixie):
sudo apt update
sudo apt install cmake clang lld build-essential \
libboost-program-options-dev libyaml-cpp-dev libmosquitto-dev mosquitto-dev \
libavformat-dev libavcodec-dev libavutil-dev \
libpulse-dev libasound2-dev libjpeg-dev libcamera-devJetson (JetPack 6): the clang in Ubuntu 22.04 is too old, so install clang 20 from apt.llvm.org:
wget https://apt.llvm.org/llvm.sh
chmod +x llvm.sh
sudo ./llvm.sh 20
sudo apt install lld-20 libclang-rt-20-dev
sudo update-alternatives --install /usr/bin/clang clang /usr/bin/clang-20 100
sudo update-alternatives --install /usr/bin/clang++ clang++ /usr/bin/clang++-20 100
sudo update-alternatives --install /usr/bin/ld.lld ld.lld /usr/bin/ld.lld-20 100Then install the other packages:
sudo apt install cmake build-essential nvidia-l4t-jetson-multimedia-api \
libboost-program-options-dev libyaml-cpp-dev libmosquitto-dev mosquitto-dev \
libavformat-dev libavcodec-dev libavutil-dev \
libpulse-dev libasound2-dev libjpeg-dev3. Install protoc 33.0
It must match the protobuf version inside libwebrtc:
curl -sLO https://github.com/protocolbuffers/protobuf/releases/download/v33.0/protoc-33.0-linux-aarch_64.zip
unzip protoc-33.0-linux-aarch_64.zip -d protoc-33.0
sudo cp protoc-33.0/bin/protoc /usr/local/bin/protoc
sudo cp -r protoc-33.0/include/* /usr/local/include/
protoc --versionThe last command should print libprotoc 33.0.
4. Install nlohmann/json
sudo mkdir -p /usr/local/include/nlohmann
sudo curl -L https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nlohmann/json/v3.11.3/single_include/nlohmann/json.hpp \
-o /usr/local/include/nlohmann/json.hpp5. Install libwebrtc
Download the prebuilt libwebrtc.a from libwebrtc-builder. Use the LIBWEBRTC_VERSION from the CI workflow:
LIBWEBRTC_VERSION=7727
wget https://github.com/mazupo/libwebrtc-builder/releases/download/${LIBWEBRTC_VERSION}/libwebrtc-arm64.tar.gz
mkdir -p libwebrtc
tar -xzf libwebrtc-arm64.tar.gz -C libwebrtc
# Remove the headers of an older version, if there are any
sudo rm -rf /usr/local/include/webrtc
sudo mkdir -p /usr/local/include/webrtc
sudo cp -r libwebrtc/include/* /usr/local/include/webrtc/
sudo cp libwebrtc/lib/libwebrtc.a /usr/local/lib/To build libwebrtc yourself, see libwebrtc-builder. It lists the exact gn arguments.
6. Build
cmake -B build -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release
cmake --build build -j$(nproc)The program is build/pi-webrtc.
| CMake option | Default | Values |
|---|---|---|
-DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE | Debug | Debug, Release |
-DPLATFORM | found from the OS | raspberrypi, jetson |
-DBUILD_TEST | none | Builds one test program instead of pi-webrtc: whep, pulseaudio, recorder, unix-socket, gamepad, mqtt, livekit, openh264, v4l2_capturer, rtsp_capturer, v4l2_encoder, v4l2_decoder, v4l2_scaler, jetson_encoder, jetson_decoder, jetson_scaler, libargus, libcamera |
CMake finds the platform from /etc/nv_tegra_release (Jetson) or /usr/bin/raspi-config (Raspberry Pi).
7. Run it
./build/pi-webrtc --camera=libcamera:0 --uid=my-pi --no-audio --use-whepThen follow Getting Started from the "Watch in your browser" step.
Code style
The CI checks the C++ code with clang-format 20 and the .clang-format file. Format your changes before you open a pull request:
find src test -name '*.cpp' -o -name '*.h' | xargs clang-format -iDevelopment
Build pi-webrtc from source, and learn how the code is organized. You only need this to change pi-webrtc itself. The releases are ready to use.
Architecture
pi-webrtc is one process that pulls frames from a camera once and fans them out to three consumers: the WebRTC encoder, the recorder, and — in the sponsor bu...