Introduction In the world of network surveillance and embedded video systems, few combinations have proven as enduringly useful as Axis CGI and the MJPEG video format. For over two decades, Axis Communications—the market leader in network video—has provided a robust, well-documented Common Gateway Interface (CGI) API. This API allows developers, integrators, and power users to interact directly with the camera’s firmware via simple HTTP requests.
http://<camera-ip>/axis-cgi/mjpg/video.cgi Most Axis cameras require digest or basic authentication. You must pass credentials either in the URL or in the HTTP headers: axis cgi mjpg
<img src="http://root:pass@192.168.1.100/axis-cgi/mjpg/video.cgi?resolution=640x480&fps=5"> The browser will continuously reload the image because the server streams multipart content. However, not all browsers support this natively forever; some may timeout. For modern web apps, you can parse the MJPEG stream manually: Introduction In the world of network surveillance and
| Endpoint | Purpose | |----------|---------| | /axis-cgi/jpg/image.cgi | Single JPEG snapshot | | /axis-cgi/com/ptz.cgi | Pan, tilt, zoom control | | /axis-cgi/param.cgi | Read or set configuration | | /axis-cgi/io/port.cgi | Control digital I/O ports | | /axis-cgi/operator/search.cgi | Search recorded video | http://<camera-ip>/axis-cgi/mjpg/video
while True: ret, frame = cap.read() if not ret: break cv2.imshow("Axis MJPEG Stream", frame) if cv2.waitKey(1) & 0xFF == ord('q'): break
processStream(); ); OpenCV can read an MJPEG stream using cv2.VideoCapture with the HTTP URL.
http://root:pass@192.168.1.100/axis-cgi/mjpg/video.cgi