Webcam and mic test

How the camera and mic test works

1. Press Start camera and mic test. Your browser asks once for both the camera and the microphone; choose Allow.
2. Your picture appears next to a live mic meter (stacked on phones). Say a few words.
3. Read the Meeting checklist under them. Each row turns to OK when that part works.

What the rows mean:

• Camera: frames from your camera are arriving.
• Microphone: we hear you above −60 dBFS. Works, too loud means your signal clips; lower the input volume.
• Lighting: your face is neither too dark nor overexposed.
• Speakers: a web page can’t hear your speakers, so this row links to the speaker test.

Pick a different camera or microphone in the lists under each side; the test restarts with that device. Stop turns both off.

What this test checks (and what it doesn’t)

This page is a quick go/no-go check. The picture carries small labels with the resolution, the measured frame rate and the lighting verdict, with a tip when the light needs fixing. Mirror and Snapshot work as on the full test. The mic side shows your live level in dBFS, the peak, the clip lamp and the waveform.

For the full camera readout (reported vs real resolution, max resolution, aspect ratio), use the webcam test.

One difference matters on the mic side: here the microphone runs with the browser’s normal processing (echo cancellation, noise suppression and automatic gain), the way meeting apps use it. So you hear and see roughly what a call will get. For the raw signal, a noise floor reading and recording with playback, use the full mic test.

A rough guide to the mic number while you talk: −30 to −12 dBFS is comfortable; much below −40 dBFS and people will ask you to speak up.

A two-minute routine before an important call

1. Close every other app that might use the camera or mic.
2. Plug in your headset first, then open this test, so it appears in the lists.
3. Run this test until all three rows show OK. Fix the lighting before anything else; it changes how you look more than any camera upgrade.
4. Put on your headphones and run the speaker test: press Left and Right and check you hear each side.
5. In the meeting app, pick the same camera, microphone and speakers you just tested. Apps don’t always follow the system default.
6. Raise the laptop so the camera is at eye level, and check the background in the preview.

Works here, but not in Zoom, Teams or Discord?

If both devices work in this test, the hardware and drivers are fine. The problem sits in the app or its permissions:

• Wrong device inside the app. Open the app’s audio and video settings and pick the devices by name. Step-by-step menus for each app: mic and camera in Zoom, Teams, Discord and Meet.
• The app is blocked by the system. On Windows, Settings › Privacy & security › Camera and Microphone have separate switches for desktop apps. Details: microphone not working on Windows.
• Another app holds the camera. Most webcams serve one app at a time. Quit the other app, not just its window.
• Browser-based meetings (Meet, Teams on the web) use the browser’s site permissions: allow camera and mic in your browser.

If the camera fails here too, start with camera not working on a laptop.

Privacy

Everything happens on your device. Your picture and voice go from the camera and mic to this page and nowhere else: nothing is recorded, nothing is uploaded, and snapshots save straight to your device. Stop releases both devices so the camera light and mic indicator turn off, and the test stops on its own after a minute in a background tab. More tests for your setup are in all device tests.