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This document defines a set of ECMAScript APIs in WebIDL to extend the [mediacapture-streams] specification.
This section describes the status of this document at the time of its publication. A list of current W3C publications and the latest revision of this technical report can be found in the W3C technical reports index at https://www.w3.org/TR/.
This is an unofficial proposal.
This document was published by the Web Real-Time Communications Working Group as an Editor's Draft.
Publication as an Editor's Draft does not imply endorsement by W3C and its Members.
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This document is governed by the 2 November 2021 W3C Process Document.
This document contains proposed extensions and modifications to the [mediacapture-streams] specification.
New features and modifications to existing features proposed here may be considered for addition into the main specification post Recommendation. Deciding factors will include maturity of the extension or modification, consensus on adding it, and implementation experience.
A concrete long-term goal is reducing the fingerprinting surface of
enumerateDevices
()
by deprecating exposure of the device
label
in its results. This requires relieving
applications of the burden of building user interfaces to select cameras and
microphones in-content, by offering this in user agents as part of
getUserMedia
()
instead.
Miscellaneous other smaller features are under consideration as well, such as constraints to control multi-channel audio beyond stereo.
This document uses the definitions MediaDevices
, MediaStreamTrack
,
MediaStreamConstraints
, ConstrainablePattern
,
MediaTrackSupportedConstraints
, MediaTrackCapabilities
,
MediaTrackConstraintSet
, MediaTrackSettings
and
ConstrainBoolean
from [mediacapture-streams].
The terms permission state, request permission to use, and prompt the user to choose are defined in [permissions].
As well as sections marked as non-normative, all authoring guidelines, diagrams, examples, and notes in this specification are non-normative. Everything else in this specification is normative.
The key words MAY, MUST, MUST NOT, and SHOULD in this document are to be interpreted as described in BCP 14 [RFC2119] [RFC8174] when, and only when, they appear in all capitals, as shown here.
The existing enumerateDevices
()
function exposes camera
and microphone label
s to let applications build
in-content user interfaces for camera and microphone selection. Applications
have had to do this because getUserMedia
()
did not offer a
web compatible in-agent device picker. This specification aims to rectify
that.
Due to the significant fingerprinting vector caused by device
label
s, and the well-established nature of the existing
APIs, the scope of this particular effort is limited to removing
label
, leaving the overall constraints-based model
intact. This helps ensure a migration path more viable than to a
less-powerful API.
This specification augments the existing getUserMedia
()
function instead of introducing a new less-powerful API to compete with it,
for that reason as well.
This specification introduces
slightly altered semantics to the getUserMedia
()
function called "user-chooses"
that guarantee a picker will
be shown to the user in cases where the user agent would otherwise choose
for the user (that is: when application constraints do not narrow down
the choices to a single device). This is orthoginal to permission, and
offers a better and more consistent user experience across applications
and user agents.
Unfortunately, since the "user-chooses"
semantics may
produce user agent prompts at different times and in different situations
compared to the old semantics, they are somewhat incompatible with
expectations in some existing web applications that tend to call
getUserMedia
()
repeatedly and lazily instead of using
e.g. stream.clone()
.
User agents are encouraged to provide the new semantics as opt-in
initially for web compatibility. User agents MUST deprecate (remove)
label
from MediaDeviceInfo
over time, though specific migration strategies
are left to user agents. User agents SHOULD migrate to offering the new
semantics by default (opt-out) over time.
Since the constraints-model remains intact, web compatibility problems are expected to be limited to:
WebIDLpartial interface MediaDevices {
readonly attribute GetUserMediaSemantics
defaultSemantics
;
};
defaultSemantics
of type GetUserMediaSemantics
, readonlyThe default semantics of getUserMedia
()
in this
user agent.
User agents SHOULD default to "browser-chooses"
for backwards compatibility, until a transition plan has been
enacted where a majority of user agents collectively switch their
defaults to "user-chooses"
for improved user privacy,
and usage metrics suggest this transition is feasible without
major breakage.
WebIDLpartial dictionary MediaStreamConstraints {
GetUserMediaSemantics
semantics
;
};
MediaStreamConstraints
Memberssemantics
of type GetUserMediaSemantics
In cases where the specified constraints do not narrow
multiple choices between devices down to one per kind, specifies
how the final determination of which devices to pick from the
remaining choices MUST be made. If not specified, then the
defaultSemantics
are used.
WebIDLenum GetUserMediaSemantics
{
"browser-chooses
",
"user-chooses
"
};
GetUserMediaSemantics Enumeration
description |
|
---|---|
browser-chooses |
When application-specified constraints do not narrow multiple choices between devices down to one per kind, the user agent is allowed to make the final determination between the remaining choices. |
user-chooses |
When application-specified constraints do not narrow multiple choices between devices down to one per kind, the user agent MUST prompt the user to choose between the remaining choices, even if the application already has permission to some or all of them. |
When the getUserMedia
()
method is invoked, run the
following steps before invoking the getUserMedia
()
algorithm:
Let mediaDevices be the object on which this method was invoked.
Let constraints be the method's first argument.
Let semanticsPresent be true
if
constraints.semantics
exists,
otherwise false
.
Let semantics be
constraints.semantics
if present,
or the value of mediaDevices.
otherwise.defaultSemantics
Replace step 6.5.1. of the getUserMedia
()
algorithm in its entirety with the following two steps:
Let descriptor be a PermissionDescriptor
with its name
member set to the permission name
associated with kind (e.g. "camera
" for
"video"
, "microphone
" for "audio"
), and,
optionally, consider its deviceId
member set to any appropriate
device's deviceId.
If the number of unique devices sourcing tracks of
media type kind in candidateSet
is greater than 1
and
semantics is "user-chooses"
,
then prompt the user to choose a device with
descriptor, resulting in provided media.
Otherwise, request permission to use a
device with descriptor, while considering
all devices being attached to a live and
same-permission MediaStreamTrack in the current
browsing context to mean having permission status "granted
",
resulting in provided media.
Same-permission in this context means a
MediaStreamTrack
that required the same level of
permission to obtain as what is being requested.
When asking the user’s permission, the user agent MUST disclose whether permission will be granted only to the device chosen, or to all devices of that kind.
Let track be the provided media, which
MUST be precisely one track of type kind from
finalSet. If semantics is
"browser-chooses"
then the decision of
which track to choose from finalSet is up
to the User Agent, which MAY use the value of the computed
"fitness distance" from the
SelectSettings
algorithm, the value of semanticsPresent,
or any other internally-available information about
the devices, as inputs to its decision.
If semantics is "user-chooses"
,
and the application has not narrowed down the choices
to one, then the user agent MUST ask the user to make
the final selection.
Once selected, the source of the
MediaStreamTrack
MUST NOT change.
User Agents are encouraged to default to or present a default choice based primarily on fitness distance, and secondarily on the user's primary or system default device for kind (when possible). User Agents MAY allow users to use any media source, including pre-recorded media files.
This example shows a setup with a start button and a camera selector using the new semantics (microphone is not shown for brievity but is equivalent).
<button id="start">Start</button>
<button id="chosenCamera" disabled>Camera: none</button>
<script>
let cameraTrack = null;
start.onclick = async () => {
try {
const stream = await navigator.mediaDevices.getUserMedia({
video: {deviceId: localStorage.cameraId}
});
setCameraTrack(stream.getVideoTracks()[0]);
} catch (err) {
console.error(err);
}
}
chosenCamera.onclick = async () => {
try {
const stream = await navigator.mediaDevices.getUserMedia({
video: true,
semantics: "user-chooses"
});
setCameraTrack(stream.getVideoTracks()[0]);
} catch (err) {
console.error(err);
}
}
function setCameraTrack(track) {
cameraTrack = track;
const {deviceId, label} = track.getSettings();
localStorage.cameraId = deviceId;
chosenCamera.innerText = `Camera: ${label}`;
chosenCamera.disabled = false;
}
</script>
A MediaStreamTrack
is a transferable object.
This allows manipulating real-time media outside the context it was requested or created in,
for instance in workers or third-party iframes.
To preserve the existing privacy and security infrastructure, in particular for capture tracks, the track source lifetime management remains tied to the context that created it. The transfer algorithm MUST ensure the following behaviors:
The context named originalContext that created a track named originalTrack remains in control of the originalTrack source, named trackSource, even when originalTrack is transferred into transferredTrack.
In particular, originalContext remains the proxy to privacy indicators of trackSource. transferredTrack or any of its clones are considered as tracks using trackSource as if they were tracks created in and controlled by originalContext.
When originalContext goes away, trackSource gets ended, thus transferredTrack gets ended.
When originalContext would have muted/unmuted originalTrack, transferredTrack gets muted/unmuted.
If transferredTrack is cloned in transferredTrackClone, transferredTrackClone is tied to trackSource. It is not tied to originalTrack in any way.
If transferredTrack is transferred into transferredAgainTrack, transferredAgainTrack is tied to trackSource. It is not tied to transferredTrack or originalTrack in any way.
The WebIDL changes are the following:
WebIDL[Exposed=(Window,Worker), Transferable]
partial interface MediaStreamTrack {
};
At creation of a MediaStreamTrack
object, called track, run the following steps:
Initialize track.[[IsDetached]]
to false
.
The MediaStreamTrack
transfer steps, given value and dataHolder, are:
If value.[[IsDetached]]
is true
, throw a "DataCloneError" DOMException.
Set dataHolder.[[id]]
to value.id
.
Set dataHolder.[[kind]]
to value.kind
.
Set dataHolder.[[label]]
to value.label
.
Set dataHolder.[[readyState]]
to value.readyState
.
Set dataHolder.[[enabled]]
to value.enabled
.
Set dataHolder.[[muted]]
to value.muted
.
Set dataHolder.[[source]]
to value underlying source.
Set dataHolder.[[constraints]]
to value active constraints.
Set value.[[IsDetached]]
to true
.
Set value.[[ReadyState]]
to "ended" (without stopping the underlying source or firing an ended
event).
MediaStreamTrack
transfer-receiving steps, given dataHolder and track, are:
Initialize track.id
to dataHolder.[[id]]
.
Initialize track.kind
to dataHolder.[[kind]]
.
Initialize track.label
to dataHolder.[[label]]
.
Initialize track.readyState
to dataHolder.[[readyState]]
.
Initialize track.enabled
to dataHolder.[[enabled]]
.
Initialize track.muted
to dataHolder.[[muted]]
.
Initialize the underlying source of track to dataHolder.[[source]]
.
Set track's constraints to dataHolder.[[constraints]]
.
The underlying source is supposed to be kept alive between the transfer and transfer-receiving steps, or as long as the data holder is alive. In a sense, between these steps, the data holder is attached to the underlying source as if it was a track.
WebIDLpartial dictionary MediaTrackSupportedConstraints {
boolean powerEfficientPixelFormat
= true;
};
MediaTrackSupportedConstraints
MemberspowerEfficientPixelFormat
of type
boolean
, defaulting to true
WebIDLpartial dictionary MediaTrackCapabilities {
sequence<boolean> powerEfficientPixelFormat
;
};
MediaTrackCapabilities
MemberspowerEfficientPixelFormat
of type
sequence<boolean
>
If the source only has power efficient pixel formats, a single
true
is reported. If the source only has power
inefficient pixel formats, a single false
is
reported. If the script can control the feature, the source
reports a list with both true
and false
as possible values. See
powerEfficientPixelFormat for additional
details.
WebIDLpartial dictionary MediaTrackSettings {
boolean powerEfficientPixelFormat
;
};
MediaTrackSettings
MemberspowerEfficientPixelFormat
of type
boolean
The constrainable properties in this document are defined below.
Property Name | Values | Notes |
---|---|---|
powerEfficientPixelFormat | ConstrainBoolean |
Compressed pixel formats often need to be decoded, for instance for display purposes or when being encoded during a video call. The user agent SHOULD label compressed pixel formats that incur significant power penalty when decoded as power inefficient. The labeling is up to the user agent, but decoding MJPEG in software is an example of an expensive mode. Pixel formats that have not been labeled power inefficient by the user agent are for the purpose of this API considered power efficient. As a constraint, setting it to true allows filtering out inefficient pixel formats and setting it to false allows filtering out efficient pixel formats. As a setting, this reflects whether or not the current pixel format is considered power efficient by the user agent. |
Some platforms or User Agents may provide built-in support for background blurring of video frames, in particular for camera video streams.
Web applications may either want to control or at least be aware that background blur is applied at the source level.
This may for instance allow the web application to update its UI or to not apply background blur on its own.
For that reason, we extend MediaStreamTrack
with the following properties.
The WebIDL changes are the following:
WebIDLpartial dictionary MediaTrackSupportedConstraints {
boolean backgroundBlur
= true;
};
partial dictionary MediaTrackConstraintSet {
ConstrainBoolean backgroundBlur
;
};
partial dictionary MediaTrackSettings {
boolean backgroundBlur
;
};
partial dictionary MediaTrackCapabilities {
sequence<boolean> backgroundBlur
;
};
Some platforms offer functionality for voice isolation: Attempting to remove all parts of an audio track that do not correspond to a human voice. Some platforms even attempt to remove extraneous voices, leaving the "main voice" as the dominant component of the audio. The exact methods used may vary between implementations.
This constraint permits the platform to turn on that functionality, with the desired result being that the "main voice" in the audio signal is the dominant component of the audio.
This will have large effects on audio that is presented for other reasons than to transmit voice (for instance music or ambient noises), so needs to be off by default.
This constraint is a stronger version of noise cancellation, which means that if the "noiseSuppression" constraint is set to false and "voiceIsolation" is set to true, the value of "noiseCancellation" will be ignored.
This constraint has no such relationship with any other constraint; in particular it does not affect echoCancellation.
The WebIDL changes are the following:
WebIDLpartial dictionary MediaTrackSupportedConstraints {
boolean voiceIsolation
= true;
};
partial dictionary MediaTrackConstraintSet {
ConstrainBoolean voiceIsolation
;
};
partial dictionary MediaTrackSettings {
boolean voiceIsolation
;
};
partial dictionary MediaTrackCapabilities {
sequence<boolean> voiceIsolation
;
};
When the "voiceIsolation" setting is set to true
by the
ApplyConstraints algorithm, the UA
will attempt to remove the components of the audio track that
do not correspond to a human voice. If a dominant voice can be
identified, the UA will attempt to enhance that voice.
When the "voiceIsolation" constraint setting is set to false
by the ApplyConstraints algorithm, the UA will process the
audio according to other settings in its normal fashion.
The configuration (capabilities, constraints or settings) of a MediaStreamTrack
may be changed dynamically
outside the control of web applications. This can happen when a user decides to toggle background blur through
the operating system. Web applications might want to know that the configuration
of a particular MediaStreamTrack
has changed. For that purpose, a new event is defined below.
WebIDLpartial interface MediaStreamTrack {
attribute EventHandler onconfigurationchange
;
};
When the User Agent detects a change of configuration for background blur in a track's underlying source, the User Agent MUST run the following steps:
If track.muted
is true
, wait for track.muted
to become false
or track.readyState
to be "ended".
If track.readyState
is "ended", abort these steps.
If track's capabilities, constraints and settings are matching source configuration, abort these steps.
Update track's capabilities, constraints and settings according track's underlying source.
Fire an event named configurationchange on track.
These events are potentially triggered simultaneously on documents of different origins. User Agents MAY add fuzzing on the timing of events to avoid cross-origin activity correlation.
Referenced in:
Referenced in:
Referenced in: