how to get raw mjpg stream from webcam

Question

I have logitech webcam, which streams 1080p@30fps using MJPG compression via USB2.0. I need to write this raw stream to hard drive or send via network. I do NOT need to decompress it. OpenCV gives me decompressed frames, so i need to compress them back. This leads to heavy CPU utilization waste. How to get raw MJPEG stream instead as it comes from camera? (Windows 7, Visual Studio, C++)

Answer 1

Windows native video capture related APIs DirectShow and Media Foundation let you capture video from a webcam in original format. It is a natural task for these APIs and is done in a straightforward way (specifically, if a web camera gets hardware compressed M-JPEG feed, you can have that programmatically).

• About Video Capture in DirectShow
• Audio/Video Capture in Media Foundation

You are free to do whatever you want with the data afterwards: decompress, send over network, compose a Motion JPEG over HTTP response feed etc.