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Take control over your live stream video by running it yourself. Streaming + chat out of the box.

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Ready-to-use SRT / WebRTC / RTSP / RTMP / LL-HLS media server and media proxy that allows to read, publish, proxy, record and playback video and audio streams.

Ant Media Server is a live streaming engine software that provides adaptive, ultra low latency streaming by using WebRTC technology with ~0.5 seconds latency. Ant Media Server is auto-scalable and it can run on-premise or on-cloud.

The Restreamer is a complete streaming server solution for self-hosting. It has a visually appealing user interface and no ongoing license costs. Upload your live stream to YouTube, Twitch, Facebook, Vimeo, or other streaming solutions like Wowza. Receive video data from OBS and publish it with the RTMP and SRT server.

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SRS is a simple, high-efficiency, real-time media server supporting RTMP, WebRTC, HLS, HTTP-FLV, HTTP-TS, SRT, MPEG-DASH, and GB28181.

Quick Overview

Owncast is an open-source, self-hosted live video and web chat server. It allows users to stream live video content directly from their own server, providing an alternative to centralized streaming platforms. Owncast aims to give content creators more control over their streams and audience interactions.

Pros

  • Self-hosted solution, offering greater privacy and control
  • Customizable interface and features to match brand identity
  • No fees or restrictions typically associated with commercial platforms
  • Active community and ongoing development

Cons

  • Requires technical knowledge to set up and maintain
  • May have higher operational costs compared to free platforms
  • Limited built-in discovery features for growing audience
  • Potential for lower video quality or stability compared to major platforms

Getting Started

To get started with Owncast:

  1. Download the latest release for your operating system from the Owncast releases page.
  2. Extract the downloaded file to a directory of your choice.
  3. Open a terminal and navigate to the extracted directory.
  4. Run the following command to start Owncast:
./owncast
  1. Open a web browser and go to http://localhost:8080 to access the Owncast admin interface.
  2. Configure your stream settings, customize your page, and start streaming using broadcasting software like OBS Studio.

For more detailed instructions and advanced configuration options, refer to the Owncast documentation.

Competitor Comparisons

12,676

Ready-to-use SRT / WebRTC / RTSP / RTMP / LL-HLS media server and media proxy that allows to read, publish, proxy, record and playback video and audio streams.

Pros of MediaMTX

  • Supports multiple streaming protocols (RTSP, RTMP, HLS, WebRTC)
  • Lightweight and efficient, suitable for low-resource environments
  • Provides flexible configuration options for advanced users

Cons of MediaMTX

  • Less user-friendly interface compared to Owncast
  • Lacks built-in chat and user interaction features
  • May require more technical knowledge to set up and configure

Code Comparison

MediaMTX configuration example:

paths:
  all:
    readUser: user
    readPass: pass
    publishUser: user
    publishPass: pass

Owncast configuration example:

instanceDetails:
  name: "My Owncast Server"
  title: "My Streaming Channel"
  summary: "Welcome to my stream!"

Key Differences

  • MediaMTX focuses on multi-protocol streaming and flexibility
  • Owncast provides a more complete, user-friendly live streaming platform
  • MediaMTX is better suited for custom streaming setups and integrations
  • Owncast offers built-in community features like chat and user authentication

Both projects are open-source and actively maintained, catering to different use cases in the live streaming ecosystem. MediaMTX is ideal for those needing a versatile streaming server, while Owncast is better for content creators wanting an all-in-one platform.

Ant Media Server is a live streaming engine software that provides adaptive, ultra low latency streaming by using WebRTC technology with ~0.5 seconds latency. Ant Media Server is auto-scalable and it can run on-premise or on-cloud.

Pros of Ant-Media-Server

  • Supports multiple streaming protocols (RTMP, WebRTC, HLS)
  • Offers both on-premises and cloud deployment options
  • Provides advanced features like adaptive bitrate streaming and clustering

Cons of Ant-Media-Server

  • More complex setup and configuration compared to Owncast
  • Requires more resources to run effectively
  • Less focus on privacy and self-hosting compared to Owncast

Code Comparison

Owncast (Go):

func (s *StreamManager) StartStream() {
    s.mutex.Lock()
    defer s.mutex.Unlock()

    s.setStreamAsConnected()
    s.startedAt = time.Now()
}

Ant-Media-Server (Java):

public void startPublish(String streamId, long absoluteStartTimeMs) {
    if (absoluteStartTimeMs > 0) {
        logger.info("StartPublish called for stream: {} absolute start time: {}", streamId, absoluteStartTimeMs);
        this.absoluteStartTimeMs = absoluteStartTimeMs;
    }
    startPublish(streamId);
}

Both projects handle stream management, but Ant-Media-Server offers more granular control over stream timing and supports multiple protocols. Owncast's implementation is simpler and more focused on a single use case.

The Restreamer is a complete streaming server solution for self-hosting. It has a visually appealing user interface and no ongoing license costs. Upload your live stream to YouTube, Twitch, Facebook, Vimeo, or other streaming solutions like Wowza. Receive video data from OBS and publish it with the RTMP and SRT server.

Pros of Restreamer

  • More flexible streaming options, including RTMP, SRT, and WebRTC
  • Supports multiple simultaneous output streams
  • Offers a plugin system for extensibility

Cons of Restreamer

  • More complex setup and configuration
  • Requires more system resources
  • Less focus on community-building features

Code Comparison

Owncast (Go):

func (s *Server) StartRTMPServer() {
    rtmpServer := &rtmp.Server{
        Handler: s.handleRTMPConnection,
    }
    go rtmpServer.ListenAndServe(s.config.RTMPServerAddress)
}

Restreamer (JavaScript):

const ffmpeg = new FFmpeg({
    input: inputOptions,
    output: outputOptions,
    on: {
        start: () => console.log('FFmpeg process started'),
        error: (err) => console.error('FFmpeg error:', err),
    },
});
ffmpeg.start();

Both projects aim to provide self-hosted live streaming solutions, but they have different approaches. Owncast focuses on simplicity and ease of use, with built-in chat and community features. It's primarily designed for single-stream setups.

Restreamer offers more advanced streaming capabilities and flexibility, supporting multiple input and output streams. It's better suited for complex streaming scenarios but requires more technical expertise to set up and manage.

Owncast is written in Go, while Restreamer uses JavaScript and relies heavily on FFmpeg for stream processing. This difference in technology stack affects performance characteristics and deployment requirements.

26,212

SRS is a simple, high-efficiency, real-time media server supporting RTMP, WebRTC, HLS, HTTP-FLV, HTTP-TS, SRT, MPEG-DASH, and GB28181.

Pros of SRS

  • More comprehensive streaming server with support for multiple protocols (RTMP, HLS, WebRTC, etc.)
  • Higher performance and scalability, suitable for large-scale deployments
  • Extensive documentation and active community support

Cons of SRS

  • Steeper learning curve due to its complexity and wide range of features
  • Requires more server resources compared to Owncast's lightweight approach
  • Less focus on user-friendly interface and easy setup for beginners

Code Comparison

SRS (C++):

SrsRtmpConn::SrsRtmpConn(SrsServer* svr, srs_netfd_t c, string cip)
{
    server = svr;
    stfd = c;
    ip = cip;
    rb = new SrsProtocol(this);
    sb = new SrsProtocol(this);
}

Owncast (Go):

func (s *Server) Start() error {
    s.mutex.Lock()
    defer s.mutex.Unlock()

    return s.start()
}

SRS offers a more complex codebase with lower-level networking operations, while Owncast provides a simpler, higher-level abstraction for server management.

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README

Owncast Logo

Take control over your content and stream it yourself.


License


Explore the docs »
View Demo · FAQ · Report Bug

Table of Contents

About The Project

Owncast is an open source, self-hosted, decentralized, single user live video streaming and chat server for running your own live streams similar in style to the large mainstream options. It offers complete ownership over your content, interface, moderation and audience. Visit the demo for an example.


Getting Started

The goal is to have a single service that you can run and it works out of the box. Visit the Quickstart to get up and running.

Use with your existing broadcasting software

In general, Owncast is compatible with any software that uses RTMP to broadcast to a remote server. RTMP is what all the major live streaming services use, so if you’re currently using one of those it’s likely that you can point your existing software at your Owncast instance instead.

OBS, Streamlabs, Restream and many others have been used with Owncast. Read more about compatibility with existing software.

Building from Source

Owncast consists of two projects.

  1. The Owncast backend is written in Go.
  2. The frontend is written in React.

Read more about running from source.

Important note about source code and the develop branch

The develop branch is always the most up-to-date state of development and this may not be what you always want. If you want to run the latest released stable version, check out the tag related to that release. For example, if you'd only like the source prior to the v0.1.0 development cycle you can check out the v0.0.13 tag.

Note: Currently Owncast does not natively support Windows servers. However, Windows Users can use Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL2) to install Owncast. For details visit this document.

Backend

The Owncast backend is a service written in Go.

  1. Ensure you have prerequisites installed.
  2. Install the Go toolchain (1.22 or above).
  3. Clone the repo. git clone https://github.com/owncast/owncast
  4. go run main.go will run from the source.
  5. Visit http://yourserver:8080 to access the web interface or http://yourserver:8080/admin to access the admin.
  6. Point your broadcasting software at your new server and start streaming.

Frontend

The frontend is the web interface that includes the player, chat, embed components, and other UI.

  1. This project lives in the web directory.
  2. Run npm install to install the Javascript dependencies.
  3. Run npm run dev

Contributing

Owncast is a growing open source project that is giving freedom, flexibility and fun to live streamers. And while we have a small team of kind, talented and thoughtful volunteers, we have gaps in our skillset that we’d love to fill so we can get even better at building tools that make a difference for people.

We abide by our Code of Conduct and feel strongly about open, appreciative, and empathetic people joining us. We’ve been very lucky to have this so far, so maybe you can help us with your skills and passion, too!

If you're new to the project, maybe you'd be interested in looking at Good First Issue.

There is a larger, more detailed, and more up-to-date guide for helping contribute to Owncast on our website.

Donors

The Owncast project is possible thanks to the people who make a donation to support us and our work. Thank you to all our donors who help keep Owncast running by donating on OpenCollective. You can support this project by becoming a backer/sponsor.

License

Distributed under the MIT License. See LICENSE for more information.

Support

  • Browser testing via
  • Project chat provided by
  • CDN services by
  • UI testing with Chromatic

Contact

Project chat: Join us on Rocket.Chat if you want to contribute, follow along, or if you have questions.

Gabe Kangas - @gabek@social.gabekangas.com - email gabek@real-ity.com

Project Link: https://github.com/owncast/owncast