Webcam Test

What happens when you press Start

The page asks your browser for the camera, and your browser asks you. Until you answer, nothing starts. If you allow it, the picture appears here and stays here: it is drawn in your own browser window and goes nowhere else. There is no recording, no snapshot, no upload and no server to send anything to.

1. 1

   Press Start camera. Answer your browser's prompt, which usually appears near the address bar.

2. 2

   Check the picture: framing, focus, and whether the room's light is behind you rather than on your face.

3. 3

   Read what the browser reports: the camera's name, the size and the frame rate it says it is delivering.

4. 4

   Press Stop when you are done. The camera light on your device should go out.

What the reported numbers mean

They are the settings of the stream your browser handed over, not a measurement of picture quality. A camera can report 1920 × 1080 at 30 frames a second and still look soft in a dim room, because the sensor, the lens and the lighting decide that, not the numbers. This page deliberately does not ask for a particular size or frame rate: it shows what you actually got.

If nothing appears but your browser said yes, another program is usually still holding the camera. Close it and press Start again. If the name is missing, your browser is simply not telling the page what the device is called.

If your browser refuses

A refusal is final until you change it: no web page can grant itself access. Permission is managed in your browser, usually from the icon at the left of the address bar, and the page works again once you allow it and reload. The page never asks twice on its own, and never asks at all until you press the button.

For the other half of a video call, use the Microphone Test. What this site does and does not collect is set out on the Privacy Policy.