How to Build a Raspberry Pi Camera for Seamless WebRTC Streaming

I recently completed a project using the Pi Zero 2 W and the Camera Module 3. My goal was to stream a live feed from the camera and use WebRTC to integrate it with HTML. After some trial and error, I found MediaMTX to be the best package for WebRTC. I wouldn't have been able to do this without stumbling upon a helpful Reddit post.

Hardware & Operating System

• Pi Zero 2 W
• Pi Camera Module 3
• Pi 12.5W Micro USB Power Supply
• Pi Zero Case
• SanDisk Extreme PRO SDHC And SDXC UHS-I Card
• Pi OS Lite (32-bit)

Making it all work

1. Set up your SD card using Raspberry Pi Imager:

• Device: Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W
• OS: Raspberry Pi OS (other) -> Raspberry Pi OS Lite (32-bit) (Bookworm, No GUI)
• Configure settings to set up your user/pass and SSID for Wi-Fi.

1. After the first boot, update your Pi:

sudo apt update
sudo apt full-upgrade

1. Install the libcamera apps (drivers for the camera):

sudo apt install libcamera-apps

1. Test to ensure the camera is recognized by the Pi:

libcamera-hello --list-cameras

You should see output similar to this:

1. Download and uncompress MediaMTX:

wget https://github.com/bluenviron/mediamtx/releases/download/v1.9.0/mediamtx_v1.9.0_linux_armv7.tar.gz
tar -xvzf mediamtx_v1.9.0_linux_armv7.tar.gz

1. Remove the LICENSE file (make sure to read it first): (optional)

sudo rm -rf LICENSE

1. Move the files to the correct locations and set permissions:

sudo mv mediamtx /usr/local/bin/
sudo mv mediamtx.yml /usr/local/etc/
sudo chmod +x /usr/local/bin/mediamtx

1. Modify the YAML configuration file:

sudo nano /usr/local/etc/mediamtx.yml

Scroll to the bottom and add the following under paths::

paths:
  cam:
    source: rpiCamera

Ensure proper indentation (2 spaces per level). Save and exit nano (Ctrl + O, Ctrl + X).

(optional)

I also change rpiCameraTextOverlayEnable = true and I set a description in the rpiCameraTextOverlay. These settings are just above the paths in the rpi section. You can refer to the documentation for this.

https://github.com/bluenviron/mediamtx?tab=readme-ov-file#raspberry-pi-cameras

1. Set up the service file:

sudo tee /etc/systemd/system/mediamtx.service >/dev/null << EOF
[Unit]
Wants=network.target
[Service]
ExecStart=/usr/local/bin/mediamtx /usr/local/etc/mediamtx.yml
[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target
EOF

1. Set up the daemon, enable the service, start the service, and check its status:

sudo systemctl daemon-reload
sudo systemctl enable mediamtx
sudo systemctl start mediamtx
sudo systemctl status mediamtx

The status output should look something like this:

1. If you encounter any errors, check the service log file:

sudo journalctl -u mediamtx.service

1. Verify everything is working by visiting:

http://yourIPaddress:8889/cam

You should see a live video feed.

Hope this helps!