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Compile error · board

Fix “esp_camera.h: No such file or directory”

The selected board has no camera driver. Choose an ESP32 board like “AI Thinker ESP32-CAM” with the esp32 core installed — not Uno, ESP8266 or ESP32-C3.

ESP32-CAMESP32-S3 camera boardsXIAO ESP32S3 SenseUpdated 3 Nov 2026

Community draft — report a mistake

What you see

OutputOutput
CameraWebServer.ino:1:10: fatal error: esp_camera.h: No such file or directory
 #include "esp_camera.h"
          ^~~~~~~~~~~~~~
compilation terminated.
exit status 1

Compilation error: esp_camera.h: No such file or directory

esp_camera.h is part of the Espressif camera driver, which the esp32 core bundles for chips that have a camera interface. If the selected board is anything else, the compiler looks for the file and finds nothing.

Fix the board selection, not the code — the CameraWebServer example compiles unchanged once AI Thinker ESP32-CAM is selected.

Quick fix — try in order

  1. 1

    Select the camera board

    Tools → Board → esp32 → AI Thinker ESP32-CAM (or ESP32S3 Dev Module for S3 camera boards). The header ships inside the esp32 core, not as a library.

  2. 2

    Install the esp32 core if it’s missing

    Boards Manager → search “esp32” → install esp32 by Espressif Systems. Add https://espressif.github.io/arduino-esp32/package_esp32_index.json to Additional Boards Manager URLs first.

  3. 3

    Don’t install a random esp_camera library

    Copies of esp_camera.h from GitHub don’t match your core and cause hundreds of new errors. The core already has the right one.

  4. 4

    Check the chip supports a camera

    Only the ESP32 and ESP32-S3 have the camera interface. ESP32-C3, C6, S2 and ESP8266 cannot use esp_camera.

Why it happens

It compiled yesterday

The board selection changed — Arduino IDE switches boards when you open a sketch that was last used with another board, or when you pick a port.

Arduino Uno selected

AVR boards have nothing named esp_camera. Every ESP32 header fails the same way, e.g. WiFi.h picks up a different library or fails too.

PlatformIO

Use platform = espressif32, board = esp32cam, framework = arduino.

Board-specific notes

ESP32-CAM: Once it compiles, see Camera init failed and the ESP32-CAM board page for wiring and upload.

ESP32-C3: No camera peripheral. Choose an ESP32-CAM or an S3 board with a camera connector.

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