# libuvc/libuvc

a cross-platform library for USB video devices

Repository: https://github.com/libuvc/libuvc
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/libuvc
Homepage: https://libuvc.github.io/
Language: C
License: NOASSERTION
License Family: other
Last push: 2024-06-25T17:34:03+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 32/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-02T17:46:02.011165+00:00)
- activity 0, release rhythm 35, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 5684, "days_push": 799, "days_rel": null, "gap_med": null, "n_releases_24m": 0}
- flags: no_releases, no_license
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 1157, forks 557 (observed 2026-08-28T04:03:48.360917+00:00)

## What it is
libuvc is a cross-platform C library for accessing USB video devices built on top of libusb. It provides fine-grained control over UVC-compliant cameras, allowing generic access or custom drivers for unsupported devices.

## Use cases
- capture video frames from a USB webcam in C
- control camera settings like exposure and focus on a UVC device
- access a USB camera without the OS's built-in UVC driver
- write a custom driver for an unsupported USB video device
- stream from multiple USB cameras in a cross-platform application

## When to choose
- you need direct, fine-grained control over UVC devices from C/C++
- the OS driver doesn't expose the controls or formats you need
- you want a libusb-based, cross-platform camera access layer

## When to avoid
- you just need standard webcam capture via the OS API (V4L2, DirectShow, AVFoundation)
- you need audio capture from webcams, which UVC video-only libraries don't cover

## Facets
- artifact type: library
- maturity: active
- function: image-processing, computer-vision, sdk
- domain: computer-vision, hardware, cross-platform
- platform: windows, cpp, cross-platform
- tags: usb-video-class, uvc, libusb, camera, video-capture, linux, macos

## Member repositories
- libuvc/libuvc (main) score 32

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:03:48.360917+00:00.
- Health v2: computed from the inputs above; adoption is never an input.
- Inferred fields (summary, facets, guidance): AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, on 2026-08-30T06:32:03.157328+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/libuvc/libuvc (fetched 2026-08-28T04:03:48.360917+00:00, sha 5a4439b84801)
  - homepage: https://libuvc.github.io/ (fetched 2026-08-29T12:36:57.113545+00:00, sha 44136fa355b3)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.