Camera and microphone test
Published
Check that your webcam and microphone work before a call. The test lists your devices, shows the camera picture, draws a live level meter for the microphone and explains any error in plain words. Everything happens inside your browser.
Camera
Microphone
The picture and the sound stay in this page. They are not uploaded, recorded on a server or stored.
How to use the test
- Press Start camera test. Your browser shows a permission prompt. Choose Allow. If you share the page with someone else on the same computer, remember that you are allowing this site, not a single session.
- Check that the picture is sharp, the right way round and not too dark. The line under the picture shows the camera name, the resolution and the frame rate the browser actually received.
- Press Start microphone test and allow the microphone. Say a few words. The bar should move and the number under it, in dBFS, should rise towards zero when you speak up.
- Press Record 5 seconds and play back to hear what other people will hear. Use headphones to avoid an echo.
- If you have more than one camera or microphone, pick the one you want in the drop-down list. The test restarts with that device.
How to read the results
Permission state
The line above the tools shows what your browser remembers for this site: allowed, blocked or will ask. Some browsers do not report this at all, in which case the test says unknown and relies on the prompt. A blocked state means the browser will not even ask again; you must change it in the site settings (the article on allowing the camera and microphone in Chrome, Safari, Edge and Firefox lists where).
Device list
Browsers show device names only after you have allowed access once, so before the first test you may see generic names such as Camera 1. A count of zero cameras while a camera is plugged in usually means the operating system has switched it off, a driver is missing, or another program owns it. Plug the device into a different port and look at the system camera privacy settings.
Camera picture and details
A black picture with no error is almost always a cover, a closed shutter, a virtual camera that is waiting for its own software, or a second app holding the device. A low frame rate in a dim room is normal: many webcams slow down to collect more light. If the resolution is lower than you expect, the browser may have chosen a lower default; most calling services request their own size.
Microphone meter
The bar shows the loudness of the signal the browser receives, from silence on the left to the maximum on the right. A small white marker holds the highest level reached. Normal speech should reach the middle of the bar. If the bar is always full, the input gain is too high and your voice will sound distorted. If it hardly moves, raise the input level in the system sound settings or move closer. The number is in decibels relative to full scale, so 0 dBFS is the loudest possible and quiet rooms sit far below it.
What each error means and how to fix it
NotAllowedError: access was blocked
Either you pressed Block, the browser remembered an earlier Block, a company or school policy forbids the device, or the page is not served over HTTPS. Open the site settings from the lock or tune icon in the address bar, set camera and microphone to Allow, and reload.
NotFoundError: no device
The browser sees no camera or no microphone. Check the cable, the laptop's camera switch or function key, the Bluetooth connection of a headset, and the system device list. Virtual devices appear only while their software is running.
NotReadableError: device found but cannot be read
The device exists and you allowed it, yet reading failed. The usual cause is that another app, such as a meeting program, a recorder or another browser tab, has taken the camera exclusively. Quit it and press start again. If nothing else is open, the operating system privacy setting for camera or microphone may be off for your browser, or a driver is stuck; unplug and re-plug the device or restart the computer.
OverconstrainedError, AbortError, SecurityError, TypeError
These are rarer. Overconstrained means the chosen device cannot satisfy the request, so pick another one. Abort is a generic failure to start the device: try again or restart the browser. Security means media access is disabled for the page by policy. A TypeError on this page nearly always means the page was not opened over a secure connection.
Differences between browsers and devices
- Chrome and Edge keep a per-site permission and show a camera icon in the address bar while a site uses the camera. Firefox usually asks every time unless you tick the box to remember the choice. Safari on a Mac and on iPhone or iPad has its own per-site setting and an additional switch in system settings.
- On phones, the browser must be allowed to use the camera and microphone in the operating system as well as in the browser. Some phone browsers show only the front or only the rear camera first; use the drop-down list to switch.
- Bluetooth headsets often switch to a lower-quality call mode when the microphone opens, so the sound in the playback can seem thinner than music does. That is normal.
- Browsers can list only one default output device, and some do not list outputs at all, so the speaker count can be zero even though sound plays.
Privacy: what happens to your picture and sound
The camera picture is drawn into a video element on this page and the microphone signal is analysed by the browser's audio engine to draw the meter. The page does not send either to a server, does not save them and contains no analytics for this tool. The optional five-second recording is kept in the memory of the open tab and disappears when you close or reload it. When you press Stop or leave the page, the camera and microphone are released and the camera light goes off. If the light stays on, another program is still using the camera.
Frequently asked questions
Is my camera picture uploaded?
No. The picture is shown on your own screen and is not sent to ChatLite or anyone else. The page has no code that uploads it.
Why does the page show generic device names?
Browsers hide real device names until a site has been allowed to use a device once, to limit tracking. Start a test and allow access and the real names appear.
The meter moves but people on calls cannot hear me. Why?
The call program may be using a different microphone than the one tested here. Select the same device in the call program's settings, and check that it is not muted there.
Does this test prove my next call will work?
It proves that the browser can read your devices. A call also needs a network path to the other person; use the WebRTC connectivity test for that.
References
Official documentation used to check this article. Pages are maintained by their owners and may change.
Reviewed against ChatLite's current behavior on .