Video4Linux

Video4Linux or V4L is a video capture application programming interface for Linux, supporting many USB webcams, TV tuners, and other devices. Video4Linux is closely integrated with the Linux kernel. Video4Linux was named after Video for Windows (which is sometimes abbreviated "V4W"), but is not technically related to it.

V4L2

V4L2 is the second version of V4L. The original V4L had been introduced late into the 2.1.X development cycle of the Linux kernel, and Video4Linux2 fixed some design bugs and started appearing in the 2.5.X kernels. Video4Linux2 drivers include a compatibility mode for Video4Linux1 applications, though the support can be incomplete and it is recommended to use Video4Linux1 devices in V4L2 mode. The project DVB-Wiki is now hosted on LinuxTV web site.

Some programs support V4L2 through the Media resource locator v4l2://.

V4L1 support was dropped in kernel 2.6.38.

Software supporting Video4Linux

• aMSN
• DVswitch
• Ekiga
• FFMpeg
• FreeJ
• GStreamer
• kdetv
• Kopete
• MPlayer
• MythTV
• OpenCV
• PyGame
• Skype
• tvtime
• VLC media player
• xawtv
• Zoneminder

External links

• Linux Media Infrastructure API (V4L2, DVB and Remote Controllers)
• Video4Linux-DVB wiki
• Video4Linux resources
• Video For Linux (V4L) sample applications
• Video For Linux 2 (V4L2) sample application
• Access Video4Linux devices from Java