Video4Linux
Video4Linux refers to the Linux kernel API and accompanying device drivers that provide standardized access to video capture and output devices. It is the primary framework used on Linux to interface with cameras, TV tuners, capture cards, and similar hardware, exposing devices as file nodes such as /dev/video0.
The project began with the original Video4Linux (V4L) in the late 1990s and evolved into Video4Linux2 (V4L2),
Software interacts with video4linux devices primarily through the V4L2 API via ioctl system calls. Typical operations
In userspace, libraries and tools such as libv4l2 and v4l-utils help detect, query, and configure devices. Many