# USB camera
Source: [https://docs.qualcomm.com/doc/80-70018-50/topic/usb-camera.html](https://docs.qualcomm.com/doc/80-70018-50/topic/usb-camera.html)
The **gst-ai-usb-camera-app** streams the video from a USB webcam connected to the
Qualcomm EVK. This webcam should be accessible as a /dev/videoX device.
While you can perform object detection and preview the results, this procedure allows you to
process the input from the USB camera without the AI inferencing.
The AI USB camera application uses the
/etc/config/config-usb-camera-app.json file to read the input
parameters.
You can choose to run this application with and without the AI inferencing. To run this
application with AI inferencing, see [AI USB camera](https://docs.qualcomm.com/doc/80-70018-50/topic/ai-usb-camera.html).
The figures show pipeline, which processes the input from the USB camera to generate
various outputs.
For more information about the plugins used in these pipelines, see [Pipeline flow](https://docs.qualcomm.com/doc/80-70018-50/topic/usb-camera.html#use-camera__section_sy3_wd2_ncc).
Figure : gst-usb-single-camera-app pipeline
## Run the application
Before running the application, complete the [prerequisites](https://docs.qualcomm.com/doc/80-70018-50/topic/ai-usb-camera.html#ai-usb-camera__section_thv_3jy_kbc).
To run this sample application without the AI inferencing, do the following:
1. Use the config-usb-camera-app.json file from [AI USB camera](https://docs.qualcomm.com/doc/80-70018-50/topic/ai-usb-camera.html).
2. In the config-usb-camera-app.json file, set
`enable-object-detection` to `FALSE`.
3. Push the file to the /etc/configs/ directory on the target
device.
4. Run the gst-ai-usb-camera-app
application:
gst-ai-usb-camera-app --od-config-file=/etc/config/config-usb-camera-app.jsonCopy to clipboard
To display the available help options, run the following command in the SSH
shell:
gst-ai-usb-camera-app -hCopy to clipboard
To stop the use case, use CTRL + C.
## Expected output
The table lists the expected output for each use case:
Table : Expected output for gst-ai-usb-single-camera-app–without AI
| Use case | Output |
| :--- | :--- |
| Preview | Preview of the camera stream. See the [Figure : Expected output for gst-usb-single-camera-app application - Preview](https://docs.qualcomm.com/doc/80-70018-50/topic/usb-camera.html#use-camera__fig_ihh_tqq_5bc). |
| Save the MP4 and YUV data | Save the output to a file at /etc/ folder
path. |
| RTSP | View the output on a remote display. |
Figure : Expected output for gst-usb-single-camera-app application - Preview
## Pipeline flow
The table lists the plugins used in the USB camera streaming
pipeline:| Pipeline | Description |
| --- | --- |
| Dump the camera YUV to a filesink |
- v4l2src captures the camera live stream.
- qtivtransform transforms the stream
data.
- Capsfilter is applied to enforce constraints on the raw
video data.
- Filesink is used to dump the YUV data into a file.
|
| Preview on display |
- v4l2src captures the camera live stream.
- qtivtransform transforms the stream
data.
- Capsfilter is applied to enforce constraints on the raw
video data.
- The data is sent to the Wayland display sink (Waylandsink) for live preview.
|
| Video encoding |
- v4l2src captures the camera live stream.
- qtivtransform transforms the stream
data.
- Capsfilter is applied to enforce constraints on the raw
video data.
- v4l2h264enc is used to encode the
video using the H.264 format.
- H264parse is used to parse the video.
- Mp4mux is used to multiplex the video into an MP4
container.
- Filesink is used to write the video to a file.
|
| Video encoding and RTSP streaming |
- qtiqmmfsrc captures the camera live
stream.
- qtivtransform transforms the stream
data.
- Capsfilter is applied to enforce constraints on the raw
video data.
- v4l2h264enc is used to encode the
video using the H.264 format.
- H264parse is used to parse the video.
- qtirtspbin is used to load the stream to RTSP.
|
**Parent Topic:** [Run sample applications for camera](https://docs.qualcomm.com/doc/80-70018-50/topic/camera-sample-applications.html)
Last Published: Jan 30, 2026
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