Intent to Prototype: RTCRtpReceiver Decoder State Changed and Error Events

[Chromestatus]

Contact emails

irz...@microsoft.com, nishith...@microsoft.com

Explainer

https://github.com/MicrosoftEdge/MSEdgeExplainers/blob/main/RTCRtpReceiverDecoderFallback/explainer.md

Specification

No information provided

Summary

Adds decoderstatechange and decodererror events to RTCRtpReceiver so applications can detect runtime decoder changes and terminal decoding failures. decoderstatechange reports when the codec or decoder implementation changes, while decodererror reports an unrecoverable failure as an EncodingError. These events let applications adapt playback, inform users, and diagnose problems without repeatedly polling statistics.

Blink component

Blink>WebRTC>PeerConnection

Web Feature ID

webrtc

Motivation

WebRTC applications cannot directly observe codec changes or terminal decoder failures as they occur. Developers must poll getStats() and infer failures from indirect signals, which produces unreliable heuristics and can create compatibility problems. When hardware decoding fails and no software decoder is available, as can occur with H.265, playback stops and only the application can ask the remote endpoint to send a different codec. Event-driven notifications let applications recover promptly by renegotiating codecs or adjusting playback, inform users, and diagnose changes that can affect latency, quality, and power consumption.

Initial public proposal

https://github.com/w3c/webrtc-extensions/issues/146

Goals for experimentation

None

Requires code in //chrome?

False

Tracking bug

https://issues.chromium.org/issues/546181655

Estimated milestones

No milestones specified

Link to entry on the Chrome Platform Status

https://chromestatus.com/feature/5115054790934528?gate=5196364695863296

This intent message was generated by Chrome Platform Status.