WebRTC Leak Protection? These VPNs Actually Do it Right in 2025

WebRTC stands for Web Real-Time Communication. It’s a technology that lets people communicate with each other directly through the web without needing extra software or plugins. For example, apps like Zoom, Google Meet and Discord use WebRTC to make video calls, voice chats and share files, all in real time.

What makes WebRTC great is that it helps people connect quickly and smoothly for live conversations, which makes it essential for things like video calls, voice chats and file sharing.

But there’s a catch: while WebRTC is awesome for instant communication, it can sometimes expose your real IP address (the unique number that identifies you online) even if you’re using a WebRTC VPN. This is known as a WebRTC leak.

These leak WebRTC issues are a problem because they can bypass your VPN’s protection, potentially revealing your location, internet provider and online activities. This could allow hackers, advertisers or even governments to track what you’re doing online, which puts your privacy at risk.

So, while WebRTC is great for connecting with others, it’s also something you need to be aware of when it comes to keeping your online privacy safe.

What is WebRTC Leak: Is WebRTC Encrypted?

A WebRTC IP leak happens when your real IP address is exposed, even though you’re connected to a VPN with WebRTC protection features. The idea of a VPN is to keep your internet traffic secure and your identity private by masking your real IP address.

But WebRTC is an important web technology used for real-time communication like video calls and file sharing and it can sometimes bypass the VPN and leak your true IP address directly to websites.

This is a significant issue because your IP address is a unique identifier that can reveal your location, your internet service provider (ISP) and potentially other sensitive information about your online activities.

How WebRTC Works and Why it Leaks Your IP

To fully understand why WebRTC IP leak test failures occur, we first need to look at how WebRTC works. WebRTC uses something called ICE (Interactive Connectivity Establishment) to set up a direct, peer-to-peer connection between two devices, requiring WebRTC protection measures.

This is what enables video calls, voice chats and file sharing directly in the browser, without needing extra software or plugins. It’s used in popular applications like Google Meet, Zoom and Discord.

Now, for this direct connection to happen smoothly, WebRTC relies on STUN and TURN servers, which can introduce WebRTC security issues. These servers help WebRTC discover your public IP address by sending requests to these servers, which check the best way to establish a connection.

Unfortunately, when WebRTC tries to connect, it doesn’t always use the VPN for these requests. Instead, it directly reveals your real IP address to the STUN server, accessing the VPN and leaving you exposed to a WebRTC check failure.

Here’s the process in more detail:

• ICE Protocol: When you start a video call or voice chat, WebRTC sends UDP packets (a type of internet traffic) to STUN servers to determine your public IP address and establish a direct connection.
• STUN Servers: These servers are used to test your device’s connection to the internet. They help WebRTC know where to send data, but when they do this, they can expose your real public IP address by bypassing the VPN’s encryption.
• IP Exposure: Once your real IP address is discovered by the STUN server, it can be sent to the website you’re interacting with or the person you’re communicating with, revealing your location and identity.

In short, WebRTC operates independently of your VPN’s encryption and can leak your IP by contacting STUN servers for connection setup.

Common Causes of WebRTC Leaks

Common causes of WebRTC leaks can be different. Let us tell you what could cause it:

WebRTC Enabled by Default

Most modern browsers like Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Microsoft Edge and Opera have WebRTC enabled by default, increasing the risk of a VPN WebRTC leak.

This means that the minute you open a website or app that uses WebRTC for video calls or file sharing, your browser might be leaking your real IP without you even realizing it, requiring a check for the WebRTC leak.

WebRTC is designed to make connections faster and more seamless, but it comes at the cost of privacy, as seen in WebRTC IP leak incidents.

WebRTC bypasses VPN protection

The core issue with leaky WebRTC is that these connections securely access the VPN tunnel. When you connect to a VPN, your internet traffic should be encrypted and routed through the VPN’s server, hiding your IP address.

However, WebRTC sometimes ignores this secure connection and directly exposes your IP by communicating with STUN or TURN servers outside the VPN, a problem highlighted by WebRTC security issues.

This is a problem because it defeats the purpose of using a VPN in the first place.

No VPN Protection for WebRTC Requests

Not all VPNs block WebRTC leaks. If your VPN provider doesn’t have a specific WebRTC leak protection feature, WebRTC will continue to expose your IP.

Many popular VPNs, such as NordVPN and ExpressVPN, include built-in protections against WebRTC leaks, but not every VPN does, so it’s important to ensure your VPN offers this feature to prevent WebRTC IP leaks.

Why is WebRTC Leak a Privacy Issue?

A WebRTC leak is a serious privacy issue because it exposes your real IP address despite using a VPN. Your IP address is like an online fingerprint; it can reveal your physical location, your internet service provider (ISP) and even your browsing habits.

WebRTC Leak vs. VPN Leak

While both WebRTC leaks and VPN leaks compromise your privacy, they happen in different ways and can be more difficult to notice, even with Express VPN WebRTC protection.

A VPN leak happens when your VPN connection fails, allowing some of your traffic to escape through an unprotected route (like DNS or IP). But WebRTC IP leak incidents are particularly sneaky.

These leaks happen at the browser level and occur without your VPN even knowing. Here’s the main difference:

• VPN Leaks: These occur when traffic escapes the secure VPN tunnel, typically due to misconfigurations or technical issues. A VPN leak can expose your real IP, but it usually happens when the VPN is disconnected or fails to route data properly.
• WebRTC Leaks: These are different because WebRTC is built into the browser and works independently of your VPN. When WebRTC requests your real IP (using STUN servers) to set up peer-to-peer connections, it completely bypasses your VPN and exposes your IP without you noticing, necessitating WebRTC check tools like expressVPN WebRTC leak test, necessitating WebRTC check tools like ExpressVPN WebRTC leak test.

This makes WebRTC leaks harder to detect and prevent, especially if your VPN doesn’t have specific features to block these leaks.

Potential Risks of WebRTC Leaks

A WebRTC leak can open you up to several risks, even with Mullvad WebRTC protection:

• Data Breaches: Exposing your real IP makes you vulnerable to hackers who can use this information to target you with phishing scams or even gain unauthorized access to your accounts. Your IP is a starting point for more malicious activities, highlighting WebRTC security issues.
• Targeted Attacks: If your IP address is exposed, cybercriminals can use that information for targeted attacks. They can find out your location and ISP, and with this data, they could try to scam you or even attempt a DDoS attack (Distributed Denial of Service) to overwhelm your internet connection, a risk mitigated by WebRTC protect features.
• Exposure of Browsing Activity: WebRTC leaks can expose not just your IP, but also your browsing habits. Advertisers can track your activities, showing you ads based on your location or the websites you visit. This kind of tracking is invasive and violates your WebRTC privacy.

How to Check WebRTC Leaks?

Detecting a WebRTC leak is an important step to ensure that your VPN is fully protecting your privacy.

If WebRTC is leaking your real IP address, it can bypass the VPN and expose your identity, so it’s important to regularly perform a WebRTC leak test to confirm a secure WebRTC status.

Manual Testing: How to Check WebRTC Leaks on Your Own

The easiest way to perform a WebRTC IP leak test is to manually test it. Here’s how you can do it:

• Disconnect from your VPN: First, turn off your VPN connection. This will allow you to see what your real IP address is without any protection.
• Check your public IP address: Go to a site like WhatIsMyIP.com or IPLeak.net and note down your public IP address. This is the IP address that websites can see when you’re online.
• Reconnect to your VPN: Now, turn your VPN back on to secure your connection and check if WebRTC is enabled.
• Visit a WebRTC Leak Test Site: Go to a site like BrowserLeaks.com or ExpressVPN WebRTC Leak Test. These sites will show you both your public IP and local IP addresses.
• Look for your real IP: If your real IP appears while the VPN is connected, it means you have a WebRTC leak.

By doing this, you can confirm if your VPN is properly protecting your real IP address or if WebRTC is bypassing your VPN.

Automated Leak Detection: Tools and Websites That Can Detect Leaks for You

If you want to save time or make sure you’re not missing anything, there are several online tools and websites that can automatically detect WebRTC leaks for you.

These tools give you a detailed breakdown of your current connection, showing if any leaks are occurring.

• BrowserLeaks.com: This site offers a detailed analysis of WebRTC settings and performs a WebRTC check for leaks in all major browsers. It will show both your real IP address and local IP address, so you can easily see if WebRTC is exposing your real identity.
• ExpressVPN Leak Test: If you use ExpressVPN, their WebRTC Leak Test tool is simple and effective. It automatically checks for leaks while you’re connected to their VPN, helping you ensure that your connection is secure.
• IPLeak.net: This website offers comprehensive leak detection, including WebRTC IP leak test, DNS and IPv6 leaks. It will display all IPs involved in your connection, showing whether your real IP is exposed.
  Perfect Privacy Test: This tool focuses specifically on testing VPNs and WebRTC leaks. It’s a great way to check if your VPN is effectively blocking WebRTC leaks while you’re connected.

How to Prevent WebRTC Leaks?

WebRTC leaks can expose your real IP address even when you’re using a VPN, so it’s important to know how to prevent WebRTC IP leaks.

There are several ways to do this, from disabling WebRTC in your browser settings to using VPNs with built-in leak protection.

How to Disable WebRTC in Browsers

Disabling WebRTC in your browser is one of the most effective ways to prevent WebRTC IP leaks. Here’s how you can do it in popular browsers:

Chrome

1. Open Chrome and type chrome://flags in the address bar.
2. Search for “WebRTC” and set WebRTC STUN origin header to disable.
3. Alternatively, you can use extensions like WebRTC Network Limiter to manage WebRTC functionality and ensure WebRTC protection.

Firefox

1. In Firefox, type about:config in the address bar.
2. Search for media.peerconnection.enabled.
3. Set it to false to completely disable WebRTC.

Safari

1. Open Safari and go to Preferences > Advanced.
2. Check the box that says Show Develop menu in menu bar.
3. Then go to Develop > WebRTC and uncheck Enable Legacy WebRTC API.

Edge

1. In Edge, go to edge://flags/#WebRTC-hide-local-ips.
2. Enable the setting to anonymize local IPs exposed by WebRTC to ensure secure WebRTC.
3. This helps protect your local IP, making it less likely to leak.

How to Disable WebRTC on Android and IOS

On mobile devices, it’s harder to disable WebRTC, especially for iOS and Android.

• For iOS, you’ll need to rely on VPN apps with built-in WebRTC protection.
• For Android, go to chrome://flags/#disable-WebRTC in Chrome and disable WebRTC there.

But keep in mind, using a VPN with WebRTC protection is a better long-term solution for mobile devices to check if WebRTC is enabled.

Use VPNs with WebRTC to Prevent Leak

One of the best ways to protect yourself from VPN WebRTC leaks is by using a VPN that offers built-in WebRTC leak protection. These VPNs automatically block WebRTC leaks, so you don’t have to manually change any browser settings.

Why VPNs with a Kill Switch Are Crucial

A kill switch is a feature that automatically disconnects your internet connection if your VPN stops working. This is important because if your VPN disconnects and WebRTC is still active, your real IP address could get exposed.

VPNs with a kill switch (like NordVPN and ExpressVPN) ensure that if your connection drops, your internet activity stops completely until you’re safely reconnected to the VPN, preventing any accidental WebRTC IP leak test failures.

Best VPNs for WebRTC Leak Prevention

When it comes to protecting your privacy and preventing WebRTC leaks, choosing the right VPN is essential.

Below are some of the best VPNs that are specifically designed to block WebRTC leaks and ensure your real IP address remains hidden:

NordVPN: How NordVPN Protects Against WebRTC Leaks and Enhances Privacy

NordVPN is one of the top choices when it comes to WebRTC leak protection. It has built-in features to block WebRTC leaks and enhance your WebRTC privacy.

• WebRTC Leak Blocking: NordVPN automatically blocks WebRTC leaks to ensure that your real IP address is never exposed, even when WebRTC is enabled in your browser.
• Kill Switch: It also comes with a kill switch feature, which ensures that your internet connection is automatically cut off if the VPN connection drops, preventing any data from being exposed through a VPN WebRTC leak.
• AES-256 Encryption: NordVPN uses military-grade encryption (AES-256), which adds an extra layer of security for your internet traffic, making it virtually impossible for hackers to intercept or track your data, ensuring secure WebRTC.
• Strict No-Logs Policy: With NordVPN, you can rest easy knowing that your online activities are never stored, thanks to their strict no-logs policy, which has been independently audited, reducing WebRTC security issues.

ExpressVPN: Built-in Protection to Prevent Leaks and Automatically Disable WebRTC

ExpressVPN is another excellent VPN for Express VPN WebRTC prevention. It offers a user-friendly experience along with automatic WebRTC blocking, which makes it a top choice for those who want to easily protect their real IP address.

• Automatic WebRTC Blocking: One of the standout features of ExpressVPN is its automatic WebRTC leak protection, which works seamlessly without requiring any extra configuration from the user. When connected to ExpressVPN, WebRTC is automatically disabled, preventing any leaks.
• Leak Test Tool: ExpressVPN provides an easy-to-use leak test tool on its website. This allows you to test if your VPN connection is successfully blocking WebRTC IP leak test failures, giving you confidence that your WebRTC privacy is protected.
• TrustedServer Technology: ExpressVPN uses RAM-only servers, meaning no data is ever written to a hard drive. This adds an extra layer of security, ensuring that even if someone tries to seize their servers, your data will remain safe and unrecoverable.

Conclusion: ExpressVPN is a top-tier VPN with built-in protection against WebRTC leaks, making it perfect for users who need privacy and fast, secure access to content.

Mullvad: Its Commitment to Privacy and Protection Against WebRTC Leaks

Mullvad is a privacy-focused VPN known for its strong commitment to security and anonymity and it offers excellent Mullvad WebRTC protection against WebRTC leaks.

• WebRTC Leak Blocking: Mullvad provides WebRTC leak protection as part of its core features, ensuring that your real IP address is never exposed. This is especially important for users who prioritize anonymity, as Mullvad does not store any logs or tracking data.
• Strict No-Logs Policy: Mullvad is built around a no-logs policy, meaning that even if someone were to request data about your online activity, Mullvad has no information to provide. This commitment to WebRTC privacy makes Mullvad one of the most secure VPN services available.
• Strong Encryption: Mullvad uses AES-256 encryption, one of the most secure encryption standards, to protect your data from potential cyber threats and surveillance, ensuring secure WebRTC.
• Anonymous Account Creation: Another unique feature of Mullvad is the ability to create an account anonymously, without providing an email address or personal information. This adds an additional layer of privacy, ensuring that you remain as anonymous as possible online.

Conclusion: Mullvad is perfect for privacy-conscious users who want WebRTC leak protection without compromising security. Its commitment to anonymity and no-logs makes it a solid choice for those who take online privacy seriously.

What to Do If You Experience a WebRTC Leak

If you discover that your real IP address is exposed due to a WebRTC leak, it’s essential to take immediate action to protect your WebRTC privacy and check if WebRTC is enabled.

Below are the steps you can take right away, as well as some additional solutions to prevent WebRTC IP leaks.

Immediate Steps: Should I Disable WebRTC If I Discover a Leak

1. Clear Your Browser Cache and Cookies
   When a WebRTC leak occurs, it’s important to clear your browser cache and cookies right away. These can store information about your previous sessions and may contribute to further exposure. By clearing these, you remove potentially sensitive data that could be accessed by websites, addressing WebRTC security issues.

Steps to clear cache and cookies

1. • In Chrome: Go to Settings > Privacy and Security > Clear Browsing Data > Select Cookies and Cache > Click Clear Data.
   • In Firefox: Go to Options > Privacy & Security > Clear History > Select Cache and Cookies > Click OK.
   • In Safari: Go to Preferences > Privacy > Manage Website Data > Remove All.

2. Disable WebRTC If Not Using a VPN with Protection
   If your VPN doesn’t automatically block WebRTC leaks, it’s a good idea to manually disable WebRTC in your browser settings to prevent further exposure. Disabling WebRTC ensures that no peer-to-peer connections can be established that might leak your real IP, ensuring WebRTC protection.

How to disable WebRTC

• • Chrome: Use an extension like WebRTC Network Limiter, as Chrome does not allow you to disable WebRTC through native settings.
  • Firefox: Type about:config in the address bar, search for media.peerconnection.enabled and set it to false.
  • Safari: Go to Preferences > Advanced > Enable Show Develop menu, then go to Develop > WebRTC > Uncheck Enable Legacy WebRTC API.
  • Edge: In Edge, go to edge://flags/#WebRTC-hide-local-ips and enable the anonymize local IPs exposed by WebRTC option to ensure secure WebRTC.

Contacting Support: How to Reach Out to Your VPN Provider

If you continue to experience WebRTC leaks despite your efforts, it’s best to reach out to your VPN provider’s customer support.

Most reputable VPN services like NordVPN, ExpressVPN and Mullvad have dedicated support teams available via live chat or email who can help you troubleshoot and resolve the issue. Here’s what you can do:

• Gather information: Before contacting support, run a WebRTC leak test and note the results. This will help the support team quickly understand the problem.
• Reach out: Use the live chat or support email option on your VPN provider’s website. Provide details of the leak test and ask for help in resolving the issue.
• Ask for solutions: Inquire about whether the VPN can provide specific WebRTC leak protection or suggest settings changes that will resolve the issue.

Alternative Solutions: How to Fix WebRTC Leak?

If you continue to face WebRTC leaks, consider these alternative solutions:

1. Switch to Browsers That Natively Block WebRTC
   Some browsers have better privacy features built in that can help prevent WebRTC IP leaks.
   
• Safari: By default, Safari has more strict privacy settings and doesn’t allow WebRTC to easily expose your real IP, enhancing WebRTC privacy.
• Brave Browser: Brave is another privacy-focused browser that blocks WebRTC leaks by default, helping to maintain your anonymity with secure WebRTC.

2. Use Browser Extensions to Block WebRTC
   If your browser doesn’t have built-in protection, you can use browser extensions to block WebRTC. Some popular extensions include:
   
• WebRTC Network Limiter (Chrome)
• uBlock Origin: This extension can block WebRTC leaks and ads across different browsers.

By using a combination of browser settings and extensions, you can effectively prevent WebRTC IP leaks from occurring.

WebRTC Leaks FAQs

The Bottom Line

WebRTC leaks pose a significant threat to your online privacy by exposing your real IP address, even when you’re using a VPN, underscoring the need for secure WebRTC.

These WebRTC leak issues happen when WebRTC bypasses the VPN’s protection and directly communicates with servers, revealing your location and internet service provider. The risk is particularly high when using public Wi-Fi or accessing geo-restricted content.

VPNs like NordVPN, ExpressVPN and Mullvad offer robust protection against WebRTC leaks, blocking them automatically so you can browse, stream and communicate without exposing your real IP address. Additionally, configuring your browser settings and using extensions to disable WebRTC is another effective measure to ensure WebRTC protection.

Remember, online privacy is something you need to stay proactive about. Regularly perform a WebRTC leak test, disable WebRTC in your browser if necessary and use a VPN that offers strong WebRTC leak protection.

Taking these simple steps will help keep your online security intact and your personal information safe from prying eyes. Don’t wait for a WebRTC IP leak to happen; act now to secure your digital life and stay protected with secure WebRTC solutions.