Windows 11 (and any older version of Windows) doesn’t allow more than one camera app to access the webcam hardware unless you use a third-party app that creates a virtual camera setup. This will change in a future release of Windows 11 version 24H2, which adds an optional feature that gives multiple apps access to your webcam.
But why does Windows not allow camera access to multiple apps? This actually has nothing to do with privacy or spying, as some might try to guess. My understanding is that Windows 11’s lack of support for multiple camera apps has a lot to do with how Windows handles or has handled video capture APIs in the past.
Back when Windows wasn’t as powerful (I mean, the hardware powering it wasn’t as powerful), it was not easy to share a camera between two or more apps, as that would slow down everything. Another challenge was that the apps might not agree on settings, like brightness or other video quality.
To keep things simple, Microsoft made a simple rule: When an app like the default Windows camera is using your camera, no other app can use it at the same time.
Some developers figured out a workaround that allows third-party clients like OBS to access the camera by creating a “virtual camera,” but the trade-off is performance.
Even on the most recent version of Windows 11 with the up-to-date camera app, if you share camera access with another app, you won’t be able to use the default camera.
As shown in the above screenshot, Windows 11 warns you to close “other apps” when it detects “another app is using the camera already”. This is blocked by an API titled “CameraReservedByAnotherApp”.
Microsoft is finally changing…
read more www.windowslatest.com
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