Add filters (background blur, etc) to your webcam on Linux.
Video conferencing applications tend to either lack video effects altogether or support only a limited set of capabilities on Linux (e.g. Zoom1, Google Meets2).
Goal here is to provide a virtual webcam via v4l2loopback
with a common set of filters that can be used everywhere.
- local
Passthrough (no-op):
$ webcam-filters --input-dev /dev/video0 --output-dev /dev/video3
Blur background:
$ webcam-filters --input-dev /dev/video0 --output-dev /dev/video3 --background-blur 150
Hardware acceleration (via VAAPI):
$ webcam-filters --input-dev /dev/video0 --output-dev /dev/video3 --background-blur 150 --hw-accel-api vaapi
Using docker:
$ docker run -it \
--device=/dev/video0:/input-dev \
--device=/dev/video3:/output-dev \
ghcr.io/jashandeep-sohi/webcam-filters:master --background-blur 50
Other than the Python dependencies that can be automatically installed by Pip, there are a few system dependencies that require manual attention.
v4l2loopback kernel module is required to emulate a virtual webcam. See your distro's docs or v4l2loopback on how to install and set it up (e.g. https://archlinux.org/packages/extra/any/v4l2loopback-dkms/).
You'll probably want to create at least one loopback device (that's persistent on boot):
$ sudo tee /etc/modprobe.d/v4l2loopback.conf << "EOF"
# /dev/video3
options v4l2loopback video_nr=3
options v4l2loopback card_label="Virtual Webcam"
options v4l2loopback exclusive_caps=1
EOF
$ sudo modprobe v4l2loopback
$ v4l2-ctl --device /dev/video3 --info
- gstreamer-1.0 (e.g. https://archlinux.org/packages/extra/x86_64/gstreamer/)
- gst-python (e.g. https://archlinux.org/packages/extra/x86_64/gst-python/)
- gst-plugins-base (e.g. https://archlinux.org/packages/extra/x86_64/gst-plugins-base/)
- gst-plugins-good (e.g. https://archlinux.org/packages/extra/x86_64/gst-plugins-good/)
- Optional:
- gstreamer-vaapi for hardware acceleration (e.g. https://archlinux.org/packages/extra/x86_64/gstreamer-vaapi/)
The provided Nix package bundles all the necessary GStreamer dependencies and should "just work" on any distro.
Install a specific release version/tag:
$ nix --experimental-features 'nix-command flakes' \
profile
install
github:jashandeep-sohi/webcam-filters/vx.x.x
Install a specific branch (e.g. master
):
$ nix --experimental-features 'nix-command flakes' \
profile
install
github:jashandeep-sohi/webcam-filters/master
For VAAPI support with Nix on non-NixOS systems use nixGL:
$ nix-env \
--file https://github.com/guibou/nixGL/archive/main.tar.gz \
--install \
--attr auto.nixGLDefault \
--arg enable32bits false
$ export LIBVA_DRIVER_NAME=iHD # Or whatever works with your GPU
$ nixGL webcam-filters --input-dev /dev/video0 --output-dev /dev/video3 --hw-accel-api vaapi
On NixOS follow https://nixos.wiki/wiki/Accelerated_Video_Playback
You can also use pipx or pip. Pipx is recommend to keep Python dependencies isolated. Keep in mind this will not install gst-python
or any of the other GStreamer dependencies, so you'll have to install that yourself.
Latest stable:
$ pipx install --system-site-packages webcam-filters
$ # Or
$ pip install --user webcam-filters
Latest pre-release:
$ pipx install --system-site-packages --pip-args='--pre' webcam-filters
$ # Or
$ pip install --user --pre webcam-filters
Git:
$ url="git+https://github.com/jashandeep-sohi/webcam-filters.git"
$ pipx install --system-site-packages "$url"
$ # Or
$ pip install --user "$url"
The docker container wraps a Nix installation for those who prefer to have it dockerized.
You can retag the image locally if you don't want to refer to the long name:
$ docker tag ghcr.io/jashandeep-sohi/webcam-filters:master webcam-filters
You may also build the image locally:
$ nix --experimental-features 'nix-command flakes' run .#container.copyToDockerDaemon