How JS Really Takes Photos!
There are two main ways to access the user's camera in JavaScript (and React). One of them became the go-to solution, and most libraries are just creative variations of it.
1. The <video>
+ Screenshot Trick
You stream the camera into a <video>
element, and when the user hits the shutter button, you capture a screenshot using a <canvas>
.
📷 The image quality depends on the resolution you define — it’s usually lower quality, but fast and lightweight.
2. The ImageCapture
API
Instead of grabbing the whole screen, this API captures a single frame directly from the video stream.
📸 The quality is much better, but unfortunately, it’s not supported in Safari or Firefox yet, and there’s no widely adopted library around it.