Webcam Test — Check Your Camera Online

“Can you see me?” is a bad way to start a meeting. This Webcam Test answers it before anyone joins. It opens your camera in the page, shows the live picture, and reports what the camera is actually sending: the frame size, how many frames a second really arrive, the largest size the camera supports, and whether the lighting will make you look like a silhouette.

How to Use It Before a Call

1. Press Start Camera and allow access when the browser asks. If you have more than one camera, pick it from the list.
2. Read the headline, for example 1280 × 720 · 30 fps, and the four tiles under it: resolution name, aspect ratio, camera maximum and brightness out of 255.
3. If the lighting line warns that the picture is too dark or washed out, move the lamp or turn towards the window and watch the brightness figure change.
4. Turn on Grid to centre your face on the thirds lines, then take a Snapshot if you want a PNG of how you look.

Mirror is on by default because that is how video apps show your own preview; the other side sees you unmirrored. Snapshots follow whichever view is on screen.

Accuracy: Requested Versus Delivered

Asking a browser for 1080p is only a request. If the camera, the USB port or the lighting cannot keep up, the browser quietly hands back something smaller, which is why this test shows the size of the frames that actually arrive rather than the one you picked. The frame rate is counted from real decoded frames over the last two seconds, not taken from the camera’s settings: below 15 fps the verdict reads “Choppy”, and from 24 fps up it reads “Smooth”. Most webcams halve their frame rate in dim rooms to collect more light per frame, so a reading of 15 that becomes 30 when you switch a lamp on is normal.

Brightness is the average Rec. 709 luma of a small copy of each frame. Under 50 counts as too dark and under 85 as dim; a mean over 200, or more than 20% of the picture blown to pure white, counts as washed out. The camera maximum comes from the browser’s capability report, which Firefox does not provide, so there it reads “not reported”.

What Happens When the Camera Will Not Start

A blocked permission, a missing camera and a camera held by another app each give a different message. The last one is the most common: “The camera is in use by another app or blocked by the system. Close Zoom, Teams, Meet or other camera apps and try again.” On a Mac, also check System Settings → Privacy & Security → Camera for your browser. Nothing is recorded or uploaded: the picture stays in the tab, and a snapshot exists only until you close it.