IP cameras or network cameras are analog or digital video cameras, plus an embedded video server having an IP address, capable of streaming the video (and sometimes, even audio).

Because network cameras are embedded devices, and do not need to output an analog signal, resolutions higher than CCTV analog cameras are possible. A typical analog CCTV camera has a PAL (768×576 pixels) or NTSC (720×480 pixels), whereas network cameras may have VGA (640×480 pixels), SVGA (800×600 pixels) or quad-VGA (1280×960 pixels, also referred to as "megapixel") resolutions.

An analog or digital camera connected to a video server acts as a network camera, but the image size is restricted to that of the video standard of the camera. However, optics (lenses and image sensors), not video resolution, are the components that determine the image quality.