Web camera is a video camera, usually attached to a computer, whose current or latest image can be had from a website. A live camera is one that is continually providing new images that are transmitted in rapid succession. Web cameras (Fig.l-35) are easy to connect through a USB port (earlier cameras used to be connected through a dedicated card or parallel port).

Web camera is also called Webcam.
A piece of software connects to the camera and takes an image from it periodically. For example, the software might hold a still image from the camera once every 30 seconds. The software then turns that image into a normal JPG file and uploads it to your Web server. The JPG image can be placed on any web page.

If you don't have a web server, several companies now offer you a free place to upload your images, saving you the trouble of having to set up and maintain a web server or a host website. This is the simplest possible Webcam.