Web Real-Time Communication (WebRTC) has revolutionized online communication, enabling peer-to-peer audio, video, and data sharing directly in web browsers while avoiding plugins. WebRTC is the backbone of a host of modern digital experiences, such as telehealth, conferencing, online education, and customer service.
However, the WebRTC development is not without its complexities, roping developers into an intricate environment of browser compatibility, network limitations, latency, security, and scalability.
At Sheerbit, we build the latest communication technology, and WebRTC is one of our areas of expertise. Our experienced team of engineers and architects makes it easy for businesses to deal with the technical challenges of WebRTC development by providing customized solutions, infrastructure that is durable, and forward-thinking approaches.
In this blog, we will explore and provide an overview of our top challenges in WebRTC development, and how Sheerbit overcomes those challenges.
1. Browser compatibility and standardization issues
The Challenge:
WebRTC implementations differ across browsers. While Chrome, Safari, Firefox, Edge, and Opera all implement WebRTC, they can have subtle variations in how they handle WebRTC APIs. Subtle differences lead to bugs and bizarre behavior across browsers.
How Sheerbit Solves It:
Cross-browser testing: Sheerbit performs rigorous QA across every major browser and platform combination using tools like BrowserStack, in addition to automated test cases with Selenium to validate WebRTC functionality.
Polyfills & Adapters: We utilize WebRTC adapter libraries to standardize the API they expose across all browsers.
Fallback Mechanisms: For the unsupported browser types, we will implement fallbacks such as SIP over WebSocket or older VoIP systems.
2. NAT traversal and firewalls
The Challenge:
The majority of users will be behind NATs (Network Address Translators) or firewalls, making establishing a direct peer-to-peer connection nearly impossible. WebRTC applies STUN and TURN servers for NAT traversal and firewalls.
How Sheerbit Solves It:
Custom STUN/TURN infrastructure: Sheerbit deploys reliable and scalable TURN and STUN servers on global edge networks so that users have the lowest chance of connection failure.
Smart network path selection: Sheerbit will utilize ICE (Interactive Connectivity Establishment) to dynamically select the best network path.
Analytics Monitoring: Sheerbit implements logging and monitoring in real-time of the state of the network, while also providing alerts when there are NAT traversal problems or other issues, before they can affect the end user’s experience.
3. Multiparty conferencing scalability
The Challenge:
WebRTC is primarily peer-to-peer, which is fine for one-to-one communications. WebRTC starts to struggle with multiple participants (like webinars, group calls) since every participant becomes a new “peer”, which means each additional peer adds bandwidth, and processing overhead.
How Sheerbit Solves It:
SFU (Selective Forwarding Unit) implementation: Sheerbit will implement SFU (Selective Forwarding Unit) architectures such as Janus, Jitsi or Medooze to handle and route media streams from multiple participants efficiently.
Dynamic bandwidth allocation: Sheerbit will manage the quality of streams based upon the condition of each client’s network, so that all users can have as smooth video playback as possible by automatically adjusting quality even in large group calls.
Cloud Native Scaling: Sheerbit builds mixtures of container micro services that will allow us to build scalable WebRTC systems to use on Kubernetes or alternative platforms.
4. Latency and Performance Upgrades
The Circumstance:
WebRTC is designed for real-time communication, but latency can be problematic, especially in high-load scenarios or mobile contexts.
How Sheerbit Addresses It:
Global Distributed Edge Servers: To reduce latency, Sheerbit has TURN and SFU servers in close proximity to end users.
Codec Optimization: Sheerbit has policies to optimize video and audio codecs (VP8/VP9, H.264, Opus) for each device based on network conditions.
Low-Latency Transport Protocols: Sheerbit leverages QUIC and WebTransport to enhance delivery of media and data for unstable networks.
5. Security and Privacy
The Circumstance:
Applications using WebRTC are sending sensitive audio, video, and data streams, making them a target for attackers. End-to-end encryption, access control, and data anonymization are vital for media stream security.
How Sheerbit Addresses It:
E2EE (End to End Encryption): Sheerbit deploys sophisticated E2EE protocols like Insertable Streams to ensure secure peer-to-peer communications.
Authentication and Access Control: Session management, role based access and token-based authentication are included in the system architecture.
GDPR and HIPAA Compliance: To a technical extent, Sheerbit revolves around clients being in regulated sectors (healthcare, financial services, etc.) and takes significant measures to assure all WebRTC systems remain fully compliant.
6. Device and Network Diversity
The Circumstance:
Users interact with WebRTC applications on an immense variety of devices (Android/iOS, tablets, desktops.) and networks (WiFi, 4G, 5G, Ethernet.) Each of these devices and connections are variables in performance.
How Sheerbit Addresses It:
Adaptive bitrate streaming: Using a real-time analysis of a device’s capabilities and availability, we can dynamically encode and or adjust stream quality.
Custom SDKs: Sheerbit develops development kits for iOS and Android that behave with native restrictions on those devices.
Real Time Feedback Systems: If a stream is declining in quality, our systems will ask the use to reconnect on a different connection or change the resolution.
7. Recording and Archiving
The Circumstance:
It’s difficult to record and archive WebRTC streams (e.g. meeting recordings, support audits, training, etc.…) because it is a peer-to-peer protocol.
How Sheerbit Addresses It:
Media Server-Based Recordings: Our architecture can have SFU/MCU nodes configured to record sessions on the server side.
Storage through Compliance: WebRTC data are securely archived in encrypted cloud storage, therefore meeting data protection policies.
Searchable Metadata Tagging: To facilitate searching and retrieving, recorded sessions can be tagged with metadata (i.e, timestamping, participants, keywords, etc.).
8. Interoperability with Legacy Systems
The circumstance:
Enterprises often look for WebRTC solutions, but generally have existing infrastructure based using PBX, VoIP or SIP-based systems.
How Sheerbit addresses it:
WebRTC – SIP Gateway: We built and configured SIP/WebRTC gateways (i.e., Kamailio or FreeSWITCH) to fish with SIP networks.
Protocol bridging: Sheerbit’s engineer does the protocol switching and session negotiation to facilitate visibility of legacy systems and WebRTC.
Custom APIs: We build APIs that allow legacy systems to control how to trigger/deal with/manage WebRTC sessions.
9. Monitoring, Logging, and Troubleshooting
The Concern:
Debugging real-time communications applications is one of the biggest challenges. The problem can reside within the network, device/browser, or server. Real-time systems need immediate observability into the data flow.
How Sheerbit Answers the Concern:
Real-Time Dashboards: Sheerbit enhances a set of Prometheus, Grafana, and custom dashboards visualizing QoS (quality of service) metrics i.e. quality of service, packet loss, jitter, and latency.
Error Tracking Tools: We integrate Sentry, LogRocket, and webrtc internals to examine and troubleshoot potential issues that may be occurring on the user side.
AI Alerts: Our smart alerts systems alert developers to unusual activity in an app before it becomes a user complaint.
10. Cost Optimization The Concern:
WebRTC can be costly to scale, especially with commercial TURN servers, where costs can add up. When you start to scale, particularly a high definition video stream with multiple parties that use WebRTC, the cost climbs quickly.
How Sheerbit Answers the Concern:
Open Source Stack: Sheerbit using battle tested open source packages (coturn, Janus, mediasoup) minimizes any designer licensing fees.
Auto-scaling: Serverless functions and containers you only pay for what you use on our scalable infrastructure.
Stream Routing: Stream routing eliminates unnecessary media relaying, which maximizes both performance and cost savings by streaming P2P, or SFU.
11. Custom Feature Development
The Concern:
Businesses definitely want feature customizations (whiteboards, screen share, breakout rooms, transcription, or translation). Most features do not come baked into the solution.
How Sheerbit Actualizes Solutions:
Modular Architecture: Sheerbit builds reusable modules that are common features that can be plugged into real-time application/WebRTC projects.
Integrate Best-In-Class Products: From Google Speech-to-Text to OpenAI Whisper for transcription, we leverage the best capabilities to provide solutions for business.
User Experience (UX): We use internal designers that can build intuitive and easy to use UIs that promote communication flow.
Conclusion
WebRTC has limitless potential, unlocking its power takes some workarounds to the quirkiness of browser restrictions, networks, adequate scale of the user host connection, and ensuring your information is secure.
At Sheerbit, we couple tech skill with systematic processes for WebRTC development and rollout. Whether you are developing a web-based telemedicine platform, real-time support solution, or a full video conference tool (that has some or all) use cases, Sheerbit can produce a secure, scalable, high performance, best-in-breed communication experience that fits your users.
Why to be a Trusted Partner to Sheerbit for Your Next Project:
✅ Proven IG-TS track record where we built reliable WebRTC video applications
✅ End-to-end project support from architecture to rollout
✅ Custom solutions for healthcare, edtech, fintech, large enterprise
✅ 24 x 7 support and maintenance on all solutions
✅ Cost recapture infrastructure, fast to market
Let Sheerbit Walk the WebRTC Journey Together with Your Ideal Market Partner. Turn Complexity into Clarity Dreams into Realization.
