WebRTC has long outgrown its roots as “just” a video-calling tool. Its core strengths—low latency, built-in encryption, and automatic NAT traversal—make it a powerful engine for a wide variety of real-time applications. Below are five non-obvious but highly practical use cases to inspire you and broaden your understanding of what WebRTC can do. WebRTC 1. Telemedicine & Remote Surgical Assistance Scenario: Enable a physician in a remote location to see and hear a patient (or an operating-room camera) in high resolution with minimal delay, and to send interactive commands back. Scenario: // Initialize on the patient side
const pc = new RTCPeerConnection({
  iceServers: [{ urls: 'stun:stun.med.example.com' }]
});
const stream = await navigator.mediaDevices.getUserMedia({
  video: { deviceId: 'endoscope-camera' },
  audio: true
});
stream.getTracks().forEach(track => pc.addTrack(track, stream)); // Initialize on the patient side
const pc = new RTCPeerConnection({
  iceServers: [{ urls: 'stun:stun.med.example.com' }]
});
const stream = await navigator.mediaDevices.getUserMedia({
  video: { deviceId: 'endoscope-camera' },
  audio: true
});
stream.getTracks().forEach(track => pc.addTrack(track, stream)); Key Benefits: Key Benefits: DTLS-SRTP encryption safeguards patient privacy.
Latency ≤200 ms ensures responsive diagnostics and instrument control. DTLS-SRTP encryption safeguards patient privacy. DTLS-SRTP encryption Latency ≤200 ms ensures responsive diagnostics and instrument control. Latency ≤200 ms 2. AR/VR Collaboration Environments Scenario: Multiple participants jointly manipulate a virtual object, exchanging real-time scene data (positions, orientations, state) so everyone stays in sync. Scenario: // On each client
const dc = pc.createDataChannel('scene-sync', { ordered: true });
dc.onmessage = e => applySceneUpdate(JSON.parse(e.data));

function broadcastState(state) {
  dc.send(JSON.stringify(state));
} // On each client
const dc = pc.createDataChannel('scene-sync', { ordered: true });
dc.onmessage = e => applySceneUpdate(JSON.parse(e.data));

function broadcastState(state) {
  dc.send(JSON.stringify(state));
} Key Benefits: Key Benefits: Peer-to-peer data exchange minimizes scene-update latency.
Delta updates only (using CRDTs or custom protocols) save bandwidth. Peer-to-peer data exchange minimizes scene-update latency. Peer-to-peer data exchange Delta updates only (using CRDTs or custom protocols) save bandwidth. Delta updates only 3. Edge AI Pipelines: Model Output Streaming Scenario: IoT cameras or devices run on-device AI (e.g., object detection) and stream only the high-value inference results to a dashboard, rather than raw video. Scenario: // On the edge device
const result = runModel(frame);  // e.g. { x, y, label, confidence }
const buf = new TextEncoder().encode(JSON.stringify(result));
dataChannel.send(buf); // On the edge device
const result = runModel(frame);  // e.g. { x, y, label, confidence }
const buf = new TextEncoder().encode(JSON.stringify(result));
dataChannel.send(buf); Key Benefits: Key Benefits: Reduced bandwidth by sending only inference metadata.
Client CPU savings; heavy ML runs at the edge. Reduced bandwidth by sending only inference metadata. Reduced bandwidth Client CPU savings; heavy ML runs at the edge. Client CPU savings 4. Peer-to-Peer IoT Device Streaming Scenario: Real-time monitoring of many IoT devices—cameras, microphones, sensors—without a centralized media server. Scenario: // On each device
const pc = new RTCPeerConnection({ iceServers: […] });
const video = await getDeviceVideo();
pc.addTrack(video.getVideoTracks()[0], video);
pc.onicecandidate = e => sendCandidate(e.candidate); // On each device
const pc = new RTCPeerConnection({ iceServers: […] });
const video = await getDeviceVideo();
pc.addTrack(video.getVideoTracks()[0], video);
pc.onicecandidate = e => sendCandidate(e.candidate); Key Benefits: Key Benefits: Horizontal scaling without a heavy media server.
Native P2P encryption for every device stream. Horizontal scaling without a heavy media server. Horizontal scaling Native P2P encryption for every device stream. Native P2P encryption 5. Remote Robotics & Drone Control Scenario: Stream live video from a drone, relay telemetry, and send control commands in near-real time. Scenario: // Command channel setup
const cmdChannel = pc.createDataChannel('commands', { ordered: true });
function sendCommand(action) {
  cmdChannel.send(JSON.stringify({ action }));
} // Command channel setup
const cmdChannel = pc.createDataChannel('commands', { ordered: true });
function sendCommand(action) {
  cmdChannel.send(JSON.stringify({ action }));
} Key Benefits: Key Benefits: <150 ms round-trip for safe, responsive control.
Encrypted DTLS-SRTP protects against hijacking. <150 ms round-trip for safe, responsive control. <150 ms round-trip Encrypted DTLS-SRTP protects against hijacking. Encrypted DTLS-SRTP Comparison Table Use Case

Transport

DataChannel Mode

Latency

Highlights



Telemedicine & Remote Surgery

SRTP (UDP)

N/A

<200 ms

High-res video, DTLS-SRTP



AR/VR Collaboration

SCTP/DTLS over ICE

ordered, reliable

<150 ms

CRDT sync, media multiplexing via BUNDLE



Edge AI Output Streaming

SCTP/DTLS over ICE

ordered, unreliable

<100 ms

JSON/binary payloads, edge inference



P2P IoT Device Streaming

SRTP + SCTP/DTLS over ICE

simultaneous streams

<200 ms

Scalable, no central server



Remote Robotics & Drone Control

SRTP + SCTP/DTLS over ICE

ordered, reliable

<150 ms

Video + commands, secure operation Use Case

Transport

DataChannel Mode

Latency

Highlights



Telemedicine & Remote Surgery

SRTP (UDP)

N/A

<200 ms

High-res video, DTLS-SRTP



AR/VR Collaboration

SCTP/DTLS over ICE

ordered, reliable

<150 ms

CRDT sync, media multiplexing via BUNDLE



Edge AI Output Streaming

SCTP/DTLS over ICE

ordered, unreliable

<100 ms

JSON/binary payloads, edge inference



P2P IoT Device Streaming

SRTP + SCTP/DTLS over ICE

simultaneous streams

<200 ms

Scalable, no central server



Remote Robotics & Drone Control

SRTP + SCTP/DTLS over ICE

ordered, reliable

<150 ms

Video + commands, secure operation Use Case

Transport

DataChannel Mode

Latency

Highlights Use Case Use Case Transport Transport DataChannel Mode DataChannel Mode Latency Latency Highlights Highlights Telemedicine & Remote Surgery

SRTP (UDP)

N/A

<200 ms

High-res video, DTLS-SRTP Telemedicine & Remote Surgery Telemedicine & Remote Surgery SRTP (UDP) SRTP (UDP) N/A N/A <200 ms <200 ms High-res video, DTLS-SRTP High-res video, DTLS-SRTP AR/VR Collaboration

SCTP/DTLS over ICE

ordered, reliable

<150 ms

CRDT sync, media multiplexing via BUNDLE AR/VR Collaboration AR/VR Collaboration SCTP/DTLS over ICE SCTP/DTLS over ICE ordered, reliable ordered, reliable <150 ms <150 ms CRDT sync, media multiplexing via BUNDLE CRDT sync, media multiplexing via BUNDLE Edge AI Output Streaming

SCTP/DTLS over ICE

ordered, unreliable

<100 ms

JSON/binary payloads, edge inference Edge AI Output Streaming Edge AI Output Streaming SCTP/DTLS over ICE SCTP/DTLS over ICE ordered, unreliable ordered, unreliable <100 ms <100 ms JSON/binary payloads, edge inference JSON/binary payloads, edge inference P2P IoT Device Streaming

SRTP + SCTP/DTLS over ICE

simultaneous streams

<200 ms

Scalable, no central server P2P IoT Device Streaming P2P IoT Device Streaming SRTP + SCTP/DTLS over ICE SRTP + SCTP/DTLS over ICE simultaneous streams simultaneous streams <200 ms <200 ms Scalable, no central server Scalable, no central server Remote Robotics & Drone Control

SRTP + SCTP/DTLS over ICE

ordered, reliable

<150 ms

Video + commands, secure operation Remote Robotics & Drone Control Remote Robotics & Drone Control SRTP + SCTP/DTLS over ICE SRTP + SCTP/DTLS over ICE ordered, reliable ordered, reliable <150 ms <150 ms Video + commands, secure operation Video + commands, secure operation Conclusion WebRTC isn’t just for video calls—it’s a general-purpose real-time framework you can adapt to a huge range of scenarios: remote surgery, collaborative AR/VR, edge AI pipelines, distributed IoT streaming, and drone control. Implementation Tips: Implementation Tips: Always configure STUN/TURN servers for reliable connectivity.
Choose the right DataChannel mode: ordered/reliable for critical commands and document syncing; unordered/unreliable for telemetry and gaming.
Use chrome://webrtc-internals and pc.getStats() to debug performance and network issues. Always configure STUN/TURN servers for reliable connectivity. Always configure STUN/TURN servers Choose the right DataChannel mode: ordered/reliable for critical commands and document syncing; unordered/unreliable for telemetry and gaming. Choose the right DataChannel mode ordered/reliable unordered/unreliable Use chrome://webrtc-internals and pc.getStats() to debug performance and network issues. Use chrome://webrtc-internals and pc.getStats() to debug performance Give one of these ideas a try in your next project—you’ll be amazed how far WebRTC can take you beyond simple video conferencing!

The code in this story is for educational purposes. The readers are solely responsible for whatever they build with it.

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These 5 Unexpected Use Cases Prove WebRTC Has Outgrown Its Roots as "Just" a Video-calling Tool

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