Too Long; Didn't Read
WebRTC (Web real-time communication) is an HTML5 specification that lets developers set up real-time media communications directly between web browsers and hardware devices.
WebRTC enables voice and video communication on web pages without the need for browser plugins.
Before WebRTC, voice and video web traffic often originated from a web-connected server.
Different software platforms provided proprietary plugins and protocols for accessing their content from their servers (remember RealAudio?).
This kind of fragmentation went against the notion of a globally accessible Web.