How to add your webcam to Windy

Windy is one of the biggest weather websites in the world, and its webcam network places thousands of outdoor cameras on the forecast map. For a camera owner it is a free way to reach weather watchers, surfers, sailors, pilots and skiers. Windy works differently from YouTube: it collects still images from your camera at regular intervals and turns them into timelapses, rather than playing a continuous live video. This guide explains the requirements, the three practical ways to connect, how to do it safely, and how a Windy webcam can also appear on LiveLocation.

What Windy accepts

• You operate the camera. Windy only accepts webcams from the people who run them (owners or their authorized operators), not links to other people’s cameras.
• Outdoor and weather-oriented. The view should show the sky, the landscape and the weather: a beach, a mountain, a lake, a harbor, a town skyline. Indoor cameras are not suitable.
• Always up to date and reachable. Windy’s servers need permanent access to the latest picture so they can download it on a regular daily basis.
• Publicly shareable. The image must be something you are happy for the whole world to see on a weather map. Frame it wide, keep people small and mask private areas (see privacy by design).

Three ways to connect

Step by step: the direct or website route

1. Get a stable image address. For route 2, set the camera’s scheduled upload (often called FTP upload, snapshot upload or “image to server”) to send a JPEG to your web host every few minutes, always overwriting the same file name, for example https://www.example.com/cam/harbor.jpg. For route 1, find the camera’s snapshot URL in its manual.
2. Check the image. Open the address in a browser on your phone (on mobile data, not your Wi-Fi). It should load quickly, show the current view and change when you reload a few minutes later.
3. Set a sensible size and quality. A landscape image of 1280 to 1920 pixels wide at good JPEG quality makes clean timelapses without huge files. Turn on the camera’s date/time overlay in a corner if you like; it helps viewers.
4. Sign in to Windy and open the webcam form at windy.com/webcams/add.
5. Fill in the details: the image URL, a clear title (place and view, for example “Example Bay harbor, looking south”), the exact position on the map, and the direction the camera faces.
6. Submit and wait. Windy reviews the webcam and checks that it can download images regularly. Windy staff and Angelcam both describe the approval as usually taking one to two working days.

Step by step: the Angelcam route

1. Create an Angelcam account and choose the Essentials plan (Angelcam’s help page mentions a Windy discount coupon).
2. Connect the camera: on an Axis camera install the Angelcam connector app; for other brands use an AngelBox or run the connector on a small Arm computer.
3. Activate the free broadcasting add-on and link it to that camera. Angelcam notes that without this step the Windy connection will not work.
4. Set the camera’s GPS position in the Angelcam dashboard so it appears in the right place on Windy.
5. Submit to Windy through Angelcam’s Windy option and wait for approval, typically about two business days.

Tips for a webcam that looks great on Windy

• Include sky and horizon. Weather fans want to see clouds, fog, rain bands and sunsets. A third of the frame as sky is a good rule.
• Keep it steady. Timelapses magnify wobble. Mount firmly; on a PTZ camera, return to the same preset before each snapshot.
• Night matters. Some owners let the night be dark rather than grainy; others use a sensitive “starlight” sensor. Avoid IR night mode looking at the sky; it turns everything grey.
• Keep the lens clean. Spider webs and salt spray ruin timelapses; a small hood helps.
• Respect privacy. Windy’s audience is global, and Windy’s webcam API terms forbid using its webcams to identify people. Wide views only.

Troubleshooting

After approval: the Windy player and embedding

Once approved, your webcam appears as a camera icon on the Windy map with its latest image and timelapse player (day, month and year views), and its own page at windy.com/webcams/<number>. Windy also offers an embeddable player. Sites that show Windy webcams through Windy’s API must display Windy’s credit line (“Webcams provided by windy.com” with an “add new webcam” link), which is one more way new owners find the form.

Getting your Windy webcam on LiveLocation

LiveLocation can show your Windy webcam with Windy’s own player on our map and place pages, credited to you and to Windy. On our submit form, choose “Windy webcam” and paste your windy.com/webcams/<number> page address. We give you a short verification code (it looks like LL-AB12CD): add it to the webcam’s title or description on Windy, or, if that is not possible, reply to our email from the address on your Windy account. After a person reviews the view, the camera goes on the map. The full process and our rules are in submit your camera.

Windy or YouTube?

Many owners do both: a YouTube stream for the live picture and Windy for the timelapses and the weather crowd. On a 4G or solar site, Windy alone may be the only realistic option; see internet for remote cameras.

Do these next

1. Set up a safe image URL (website upload or Angelcam), not an open camera port.
2. Submit it to Windy with an exact position and direction.
3. Add it to LiveLocation once Windy approves it.

Last reviewed October 7, 2026 by the LiveLocation team. General information, not legal or electrical advice.