WebRTC Data Channels

Abstract

Browser-to-browser real-time communication is making rapid progress in the standardization process, both in the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) and the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). These advancements cover many aspects, such as interface definitions, protocol mechanisms and security. Many scenarios discussed show that interfaces and standards can serve as a foundation for interoperable real-time multimedia applications that are easy to implement. In addition to the transfer of real-time-media data, the currently discussed protocol stacks also support transfer of non-media data. This article gives a brief top-down discussion of how the standardization efforts reflect the use cases of non-media data transfer, which use cases could be addressed, and how technologies are applied to achieve the goals. Furthermore, it provides an insight into specific protocol mechanisms as well as unresolved issues for future work.