Can I use WebRTC to receive a non-standard RTP stream?

Question

I have a piece of software running on a node in my network that generates RTP streams carried over UDP/IP. Those streams contain streaming data, but not in any standard audio/video format (like H.264, etc.). I would like to have a simple Web app that can hook into these streams, decode the payloads appropriately, and display their contents. I understand that it isn't possible to have direct access to a UDP socket from a browser.

Is there a way to, using JavaScript/HTML5, to read an arbitrary RTP stream (i.e. given a UDP port number to receive the data from)? The software that sends the stream does not implement any of the signaling protocols specified by WebRTC, and I'm unable to change it. I would like to just be able to get at the RTP packet contents; I can handle the decoding and display without much issue.

Answer 1

As far as I know, there is nothing in the set of WebRTC APIs that will allow you to do this. As you have pointed out, there also isn't a direct programmatic way to handle UDP packets in-browser.

You can use Canvas and the Web Audio API to effectively playback arbitrary video, but this takes a ton of CPU. The MediaSource extensions can be used to run data through the browser's codec, but you still have to get the data somehow.

I think the best solution in your case is to make these connections server-side and use something like FFmpeg to output a stream in a codec and container that your browser can handle, and simply play back in a video element. Then, you can connect to whatever you want. I have done similar projects with Node.js which make it very easy to pipe streams through, and on out to the browser.

Answer 2

Another alternative is to use WASM and create your own player for your stream. It's pretty incredible technology of these recent years > 2014. Also as stated by @Brad, WebRTC doesn't support what you need even as of this year 2020.