Webcam Test
Nothing is uploaded or recorded. Video stays on this device.
Webcams show a mirrored preview by default, like a mirror — the saved picture isn't flipped.
Resolution
Measures the highest resolution your camera actually delivers, compared with what it claims to support.
Frame rate
Counts frames your browser actually presents, not just what the camera reports.
Image health
Snapshot
Saves a still picture from your camera to your own device. Nothing is uploaded.
Summary
- Camera opened successfully
- Resolution matches what your camera claims
- Frame rate measured
- Picture isn't black
- Picture isn't frozen
- Exposure looks steady
Most webcam checkers only show a live preview and call it a test. This one measures things a preview can't show you: whether your camera actually delivers the resolution it claims, whether the frame rate your browser presents keeps up with what the camera reports, and whether the picture is unexpectedly black, frozen, or hunting for the right exposure. Nothing is uploaded — every measurement runs locally, in this tab.
How it works
- Allow Camera Access. Your browser will ask permission the first time — this page never requests your microphone, only video.
- Check the Live Preview. The mirror toggle flips the preview left-to-right, matching how a real mirror looks — it doesn't change what gets saved.
- Measure Resolution. Runs through a ladder of common resolutions and reports the highest your camera actually delivers, compared with what it claims to support.
- Check the Frame Rate. Counts frames your browser genuinely presents. If your browser can't measure this at all, the tool says so instead of guessing.
- Watch the Image Health Signals. Flags a black or frozen picture immediately, and reports whether exposure looks steady or is hunting up and down.
- Take a Snapshot. Saves a still picture to your own device. Nothing is uploaded — this is a local download, not a share.
Real Resolution vs. Claimed Resolution
A camera's box or driver panel lists a maximum resolution, but what actually reaches your browser depends on the USB bandwidth available, the app requesting it, and how the driver handles a high-resolution request under load. This tool asks for each resolution in a ladder from 480p up to 4K and reads back what the camera actually delivered at each step, not what was requested.
- Delivered exactly — the camera provided exactly the resolution asked for.
- Downscaled — the camera provided a smaller size than asked for; still usable, just not what it claims.
- Not supported — the camera rejected the request outright for that resolution.
Why the Frame Rate Number Sometimes Stops Climbing
This tool counts frames using requestVideoFrameCallback, a browser API that fires once for every frame your browser actually presents to the screen — not once for every frame the camera claims to produce. If your camera reports 60fps but your screen only refreshes 60 times a second, the number this tool shows will match your screen, not necessarily a higher number the camera might otherwise be capable of.
A Black or Frozen Picture — the Two Most Common Real Complaints
"My camera turns on but shows nothing" is one of the most common webcam complaints, and it's almost always one of three things: a physical privacy shutter left closed, a lens cap, or a driver that opened the device without actually starting the video pipeline. This tool checks the picture's brightness directly and flags it the moment it reads as black.
A frozen feed is different — the camera opened and the first frame looked fine, but nothing after that changed. This tool compares consecutive frames and flags a sustained run of near-identical ones as frozen. A still shot of an unmoving scene (a camera pointed at a wall, or you sitting very still) is deliberately NOT flagged this way — only a frame that stops updating at the byte level, or stays within sensor-noise range for several samples in a row, counts as frozen.
Exposure Hunting
Auto-exposure adjusts brightness on the fly as lighting changes, and a small amount of drift is completely normal — most webcams do this continuously and it's rarely visible to a human eye. This tool watches the picture's overall brightness over several seconds and reports a steady/drifting/pumping signal: steady is normal, drifting is a small amount of normal auto-exposure movement, and pumping means the brightness is swinging noticeably up and down on a short cycle.
Why This Tool Won't Score Your Camera's Picture Quality
You'll find sites that print a confident-looking "camera quality score" after a few seconds of video. Sharpness, colour accuracy, and low-light performance all depend heavily on lighting conditions the moment you tested, your display's own colour calibration, and video compression somewhere in the pipeline — none of which this page controls or can see past.
This tool reports only what it can verify directly: the resolution and frame rate your browser actually receives, and simple brightness-based signals for a black, frozen, or hunting picture. No face detection, no recording, no quality score dressed up as a measurement.
Nothing Is Uploaded
Every measurement on this page — the live preview, the resolution ladder, the frame-rate count, the brightness checks — runs entirely inside your browser tab. Your video is never sent to a server, never recorded, and never stored beyond the tab you're using right now.
Frequently asked questions
Why does my browser ask for camera permission again, even though I allowed it before?
Most browsers only remember a camera permission for the current site and, in some cases, only for the current browsing session. This is a browser privacy setting, not something this tool controls.
Why does the preview look mirrored?
Webcam software conventionally flips the live preview left-to-right so it behaves like a mirror, which feels more natural while you're looking at yourself. The mirror toggle controls this preview only — the resolution and frame-rate measurements aren't affected either way.
Why can't this tool measure my frame rate?
Frame-rate measurement needs a browser API called requestVideoFrameCallback. Most current browsers support it, but on one that doesn't, this tool says so honestly instead of printing a number it can't actually back up.
My camera claims 4K but this tool shows a lower resolution — is my camera lying?
Not necessarily. USB bandwidth, cable quality, a USB hub in between, or the camera's own driver can all cap what actually gets delivered below the maximum printed on the box. This tool reports what your camera delivered in this test, on this device, right now — not an accusation about the hardware itself.
The picture looks black — what's wrong?
Check for a physical privacy shutter (a small sliding cover many laptops and webcams have) or a lens cap first — that's the most common cause by far. If neither applies, try closing other apps that might be holding the camera, and check your operating system's camera privacy settings.
Does this tool upload or record my video anywhere?
No. Every measurement runs locally in your browser tab. The only thing that ever leaves the live preview is a snapshot you take yourself, and that saves straight to your own device — it's never sent anywhere.
Do I need to install anything to use this?
No. Everything runs in your browser tab using standard web camera APIs — nothing is installed, and no video data leaves your device.
Does this work with my phone's front or rear camera?
Yes, on a phone browser you can typically switch between front and rear cameras using the device selector, the same as on a laptop with multiple cameras.
Your video never leaves this device — nothing is uploaded, recorded, or sent anywhere. Every measurement (preview, resolution, frame rate, brightness checks) runs locally in this browser tab. A snapshot you take saves straight to your own device as a file download. The camera indicator light turns off the moment you press Stop, and the session stops itself automatically after a minute of being left open and idle.