libwebcam

The Webcam Library libwebcam is designed to simplify the development of webcam applications, primarily on Linux but with an option to be ported to other platforms, in particular Solaris. It realizes part of what the unwritten Video4Linux user space library was always supposed to be: an easy to use library that shields its users from many of the difficulties and problems of using the V4L2 API directly.

Today libwebcam provides the following core features:

• Enumeration of all cameras available in the system.
• Provide detailed information about the detected devices and their controls.
• Wrapper for the V4L2 frame format enumeration.
• Convenient access to device controls.
• Support for configuring the Linux UVC driver's dynamic controls (extension unit controls).

In addition, the interface is prepared to handle device events ranging from newly detected cameras over control value changes to device button events. It is easy to add new features without breaking application compatibility and the addition of new controls or events is straightforward.

License

libwebcam is released under the GNU Lesser General Public License (LGPL).

Latest version

Note that the latest version of the Webcam Library and this API documentation can always be found on the QuickCam Team website.

Questions and feedback

There is a forum for developers and users of the Webcam Library. Please feel free to post your questions and comments:

QuickCam Team discussion forums