# Webcams

Webcams are video cameras which are designed to be used with a computer for
streaming, video calls or similar usages.
This section lists and explains software for the handling of webcams under a
Linux operating system.

## Editing Video Stream

The editing of a video stream provided by a webcam can be achieved by using
[OBS](/wiki/obs.md) together with the
[OBS Virtual Camera plugin](/wiki/obs.md#virtual-camera).
This works on [Windows](/wiki/windows.md) aswell as [Linux](/wiki/linux.md) and can be used for any
webcam available.

## Configure the Webcam

On Linux a webcam can be configured with [guvcview](https://guvcview.sourceforge.net/).
This program provides a simple interface for capturing and viewing video from a
[v4l2](/wiki/linux/v4l2.md) device and is thus dependent on v4l2.
Additionally guvcview provides an interface to configure various webcam settins
and enable a few effects on top of it.

## Using a Smartphone as Webcam

A [smartphone](/wiki/smart_device.md) and its camera aswell as flashlight can be used as a simple
replacement for a webcam.
For [Android](/wiki/android.md) smartphones this can be easily achieved by using
[DroidCam](/wiki/android/droidcam.md).
An alternative to DroidCam with a with decidedly better resolution is
[IP Webcam](/wiki/android/ip_webcam.md).