An IP camera is a camera that streams digital video over an IP network — Ethernet or Wi-Fi — instead of sending an analog signal down coax. Each camera has its own IP address, compresses video on board (typically H.264 or H.265), and serves it as a network stream a VMS or NVR can pull over RTSP/ONVIF. Many are powered over the same Ethernet cable (PoE), so one cable carries both data and power.
Because the camera is a small networked computer, it can do work at the edge: encode multiple streams (a high-resolution "main" stream for recording and a low-resolution "substream" for multi-view), detect motion, and increasingly run on-device AI such as person or vehicle detection. Resolutions commonly run from 2 MP (1080p) to 4K and beyond, with typical bitrates of roughly 2–8 Mbps depending on resolution, frame rate, scene complexity, and codec.
Two pitfalls dominate. First, bandwidth and storage scale directly with resolution and frame rate — doubling resolution roughly doubles the stream — so "more megapixels" is not free. Second, IP cameras are network devices and a security liability if left on default passwords or unpatched firmware; an unhardened camera is a common entry point into a network.
