Opera for Android Adds Native WebRTC Video Chat Support

BY GreenBot Staff

Published 6 Mar 2014

Opera for Android is joining the WebRTC party. Following in the footsteps of other popular Android browsers, including Chrome and Firefox. The Norway-based browser maker announced that Opera 20 for Android now has WebRTC functionality. The web is the ultimate meeting place for all forms of communication. So why not make video communication capabilities into the mobile browser? Said Opera Software’s mobile chief in the company’s announcement.
Natively video chatting with Santa using Opera for Android’s new WebRTC support. 

WebRTC is open-source and supported by Mozilla and Opera. That uses core web technologies such as Javascript HTML 5 to create browser-based video chat. Instead of downloading a plug-in such as Skype for Outlook.com. Visit a WebRTC-compatible web app and invite others with compatible browsers for voice video chat. The technology was designed with features like screen file sharing. Although yet to be universally supported. WebRTC is available on most modern browsers, including Chrome, Firefox, and Opera. The only significant exceptions are Safari for Mac iOS and Internet Explorer.

Apple has yet to say much about WebRTC or whether Safari will support the technology. However, the company is a recent member of the WebRTC Working Group responsible for developing the standard. Microsoft, a working group member, is developing a second appless video chat standard called Customizable, Ubiquitous Real Communication (CURTC). Microsoft has argued that WebRTC needs to be better. A robust browser-based chat standard. And wants the technology to be adopted. If you’d like to try out WebRTC in Opera, sites such as talky.io will let you get a feel for how WebRTC works. You can also see the site Is WebRTC Ready Yet? from the makers of talky.io that breaks down each browser’s WebRTC capabilities.