Understanding WebRTC State Machines Specific transports, aggregate states, and the Chrome/libwebrtc mental model WebRTC is one of those technologies that appears deceptively simple on the surface. You call createOffer() , exchange some SDP, and suddenly two browsers are streaming video to each other. But beneath that simplicity lies a set of interlocking state machines that govern every aspect of the connection's lifecycle—from signaling and ICE candidate exchange to DTLS handshake completion. If you've ever stared at a WebRTC debugging log wondering why connectionState reads "connecting" while iceConnectionState says "connected" , this article is for you. The key insight, and the one the Chrome/libwebrtc codebase is built around, is that WebRTC state is organized into two distinct tiers: specific state machines that live on individual transports, and aggregate states on RTCPeerConnection that are derived—computed—from those transports. This art...