How to create a fake webcam stream on Linux.

Creating a webcam stream of your desktop, instead of an actual webcam is very easy on Linux. The v412loopback package provides a kernel module that will emulate a webcam, using any video input you wish to give it.

Install it like this.

┌──[jason@192.168.1.2]─[~]
└──╼  ╼ $ sudo apt install v4l2loopback-dkms

Then, load the kernel module.

┌─[jason@jason-desktop]─[~]
└──╼ $sudo modprobe v4l2loopback

Now, create a webcam stream, using your Linux desktop. This is how to stream your desktop to the Internet on Youtube.

┌─[jason@jason-desktop]─[~]
└──╼ $ffmpeg -f x11grab -r 15 -s 1280x720 -i :1 -vcodec rawvideo -pix_fmt yuv420p -vf hflip -threads 0 -f v4l2 /dev/video0

This would be very useful for anyone who wants to show off stuff on the Internet on their desktop and wants to use a Youtube stream to do it. This is a lot of fun. If the video is flipped horizontally, then use the -vf hflip parameter to flip it to the right orientation.

The screenshot above shows the result of testing my webcam online. But this really does work very well.