A framework initially pitched by Google for real time communication within a browser has been promoted to a working draft at the W3C.

WebRTC was initially disclosed in May of this year when the W3C created a working group who set the goal to develop APIs that will support audio and video communication in real time within a web browser window. According to the current plan, the recommendation spec is due in the first quarter of 2013.

Initially developed by Global IP Solutions, a company that was acquired by Google in May of last year, WebRTC was open-sourced under a 3-clause BSD license in June of this year and is currently supported by Chrome, Firefox and Opera.

The working draft outlines the APIs for WebRTC, including the Stream API, as well as descriptions of P2P connections, and garbage collection.