camera_desktop

A Flutter camera plugin for desktop platforms. Implements camera_platform_interface so it works seamlessly with the standard camera package and CameraController.

Platform Support #

Installation #

Add camera_desktop alongside camera in your pubspec.yaml:

dependencies:
  camera: ^0.11.0
  camera_desktop: ^0.0.8

That's it. All three desktop platforms are covered — no additional packages needed.

Usage #

Use the standard camera package API:

import 'package:camera/camera.dart';

final cameras = await availableCameras();
final controller = CameraController(cameras.first, ResolutionPreset.high);
await controller.initialize();

// Preview
CameraPreview(controller);

// Capture
final file = await controller.takePicture();

// Record
await controller.startVideoRecording();
final video = await controller.stopVideoRecording();

Advanced Settings #

CameraController (camera 0.11.x+) accepts optional fps, videoBitrate, and audioBitrate parameters at construction time:

final controller = CameraController(
  cameras.first,
  ResolutionPreset.veryHigh,
  enableAudio: true,
  fps: 30,
  videoBitrate: 5000000,   // 5 Mbps
  audioBitrate: 128000,    // 128 kbps
);

These settings are applied during initialize(). To change them you must dispose() the controller and create a new one — see Limitations.

Platform-Specific Setup #

Linux #

Install GStreamer development libraries:

# Ubuntu/Debian
sudo apt install libgstreamer1.0-dev libgstreamer-plugins-base1.0-dev gstreamer1.0-plugins-good

# Fedora
sudo dnf install gstreamer1-devel gstreamer1-plugins-base-devel gstreamer1-plugins-good

# Arch
sudo pacman -S gstreamer gst-plugins-base gst-plugins-good

macOS #

Add camera and microphone usage descriptions to your Info.plist:

<key>NSCameraUsageDescription</key>
<string>This app needs camera access.</string>
<key>NSMicrophoneUsageDescription</key>
<string>This app needs microphone access for video recording.</string>

For sandboxed apps, add to your entitlements:

<key>com.apple.security.device.camera</key>
<true/>
<key>com.apple.security.device.audio-input</key>
<true/>

Windows #

No additional setup required.

Features #

Mirror / Flip Behavior #

On macOS and Linux, the preview frames are mirrored at the native capture level (like a webcam selfie view), so buildPreview() returns the texture as-is. The mirror state can be toggled at runtime via setMirror():

import 'package:camera_desktop/camera_desktop.dart';

// Toggle mirror at runtime (macOS & Linux only)
final plugin = CameraDesktopPlugin();
await plugin.setMirror(cameraId, false); // disable mirror
await plugin.setMirror(cameraId, true);  // re-enable mirror

On Windows, the native backend does not mirror, so the example app wraps the preview in a horizontal Transform in Flutter:

if (Platform.isWindows) {
  return Transform(
    alignment: Alignment.center,
    transform: Matrix4.diagonal3Values(-1, 1, 1),
    child: Texture(textureId: textureId),
  );
}

The same applies to video playback — recorded files from macOS/Linux are already mirrored, while Windows recordings need a Flutter-side flip if you want a mirror-style playback.

Platform Capabilities #

Query what the current platform supports at runtime:

import 'package:camera_desktop/camera_desktop.dart';

final caps = await CameraDesktopPlugin().getPlatformCapabilities();
// caps['supportsMirrorControl'] == true  (macOS & Linux)
// caps['supportsVideoFpsControl'] == true
// caps['supportsVideoBitrateControl'] == true
// caps['supportsAudioBitrateControl'] == true

This is useful when building UIs that conditionally expose controls based on the running platform.

Limitations #

Desktop cameras generally do not support mobile-oriented features:

• Flash/torch control
• Exposure/focus point selection
• Zoom (beyond 1.0x)
• Device orientation changes
• Pause/resume video recording

These methods either no-op or throw CameraException as appropriate.

fps, videoBitrate, and audioBitrate are applied at initialization and cannot be changed on a running controller. To update them, dispose() the controller and create a new one with the desired settings.