FFmpeg Live Streaming – What Professional Broadcasters Need to Know [2024 Update]

Many professional broadcasters use live streaming software in addition to their online video platforms. Video streaming software typically provides tools for encoding, transcoding, adding on-screen effects, and more.

If you are looking for a no-frills, lightweight tool for broadcast live stream production and other video tasks, FFmpeg live streaming software may be the best for you. You can use FFmpeg to create rtmp streams.

This feature-rich tool is primarily designed for advanced broadcasters. To help lower the learning curve, we’ve put together this guide to break down some of the code and functions available on FFmpeg. This FFmpeg tutorial will help you understand how it works.

In this post, we’ll cover how to set up FFmpeg on Linux, Mac, and Windows, and how to use FFmpeg available protocols to broadcast live streams. We’ll also provide a brief walkthrough on how to use the software with our own live streaming platformThis FFmpeg tutorial will cover what you need to know to use FFmpeg for streaming.

Let’s get right into the basics of FFmpeg live streaming and its useful tools.

Table of Contents:

• What is FFmpeg?
• What Can You Do With FFmpeg?
• How FFmpeg’s Live Streaming Tools Work
• How to Download and Setup FFmpeg
• How to Use FFmpeg for Live Streaming
• How to Live Stream Using FFmpeg and Dacast
• FAQs
• Conclusion

What is FFmpeg?

What is FFmpeg? FFmpeg is a streaming software that is designed for converting, recording, splicing, editing, playing, encoding, muxing/demuxing, and streaming multimedia files. It works with audio, images, and video files in basically any codec or format used in the past 20 years.

FFmpeg is free and open-source, meaning anyone can download the software without any cost. Developers may also be able to integrate FFmpeg command into other projects.

This program is a command-line utility, which means that FFmpeg isn’t built around a Graphical User Interface (GUI). Instead, it’s an application that accepts commands via “command-line interfaces” (CLI), which means that a little bit of technical know-how is required.

If you’ve ever used a Unix-based computer such as Linux or macOS, you may have used the “terminal” application. On Windows, MS-DOS and the more modern “Powershell” provide a command-line interface.

Power users, system administrators, developers, and others working with complex code generally prefer a CLI. Often, system administration tools are only available via CLI. Scripting, automation, and other advanced tasks are often easier via CLI. Thus, FFmpeg serves this audience by providing multimedia tools from the command line. FFmpeg programs require a little coding knowledge. 

What Can You Do With FFmpeg?

FFmpeg has a wide range of capabilities for live video streaming. Some of FFmpeg video streaming capabilities include:

• Format and Codec Agnostic: FFmpeg transcodes between different video and audio formats and codecs. This ensures compatibility with various streaming platforms and playback devices.
• Stream Optimization: FFmpeg provides granular control over bitrate for both audio and video streams. This enables you to optimize the stream for specific bandwidth limitations or target audience devices.
• Audio Manipulation: FFmpeg offers a robust suite of audio editing tools within the live streaming workflow. You can adjust volume levels, remove unwanted audio tracks, or integrate an external audio source with your live video feed. 
• Video Processing: FFmpeg goes beyond simple streaming. You can leverage its video processing capabilities to crop, scale, or rotate your live video feed in real-time.
• Input Source Versatility: FFmpeg can ingest live video feeds from a wide range of sources, including webcams, capture cards, and even network streams. Convert between different file formats and codecs (i.e. encoding)

Therefore, with FFmpeg, users can do the following:

• Adjust bitrate (both audio and video)
• Adjust volume, remove audio and/or merge an audio file with a video file
• Remap a mono audio source to stereo channels
• Crop, scale or rotate a video file
• Recording input from a webcam or other video source
• Broadcast live stream a video feed

When it comes to multimedia, there isn’t much that FFmpeg streaming server can’t do. Live streaming and video creation with FFmpeg command is very diverse, and allows you to do just about anything you want to a video.

If you’ve used image editing, video editing, or audio editing software, you’ve probably used FFmpeg before. Given its free and open-source nature, many other applications with a GUI use FFmpeg to provide backend processing. You could easily have worked with FFmpeg stream server online without knowing it.

It is important to emphasize that FFmpeg is NOT an encoder for beginners looking to broadcast live streams. New broadcasters would be better off starting with free available encoders such as OBS Studio. They could also consider investing in paid encoding software options, such as Wirecast, vMix, and VidBlasterX FFmpeg is for people with more advanced knowledge of coding and broadcasting.

How FFmpeg’s Live Streaming Tools Work

As far as live video stream software goes, FFmpeg provides a relatively wide variety of tools. FFmpeg supports many video and audio inputs that are accessible to your computer. These include webcams, USB microphones, and cameras that connect via capture cards.

Additionally, you can specify an output file as an FFmpeg RTMP stream aimed at your streaming platform. FFmpeg will accept your login information to allow you to stream to this destination. This provides a simple command-line interface live streaming functionality. In this case, FFmpeg acts as the live encoding software. You can use FFmpeg to livestream.

One important application of FFmpeg  real time streaming concerns mixing a complex live production. For this function, you may want to have one powerful computer dedicated to capturing feeds from various cameras. You need a lot of processing power in order to mix complex live productions.

An engineer stationed at this camera then mixes video content in real-time. Then, the engineer can output a feed to another computer running FFmpeg. This computer, in turn, can broadcast live streams as the final result making FFmpeg real time encoding and streaming possible.

This setup effectively divides the processing load between multiple machines.

Testing of M3U8 Media Files

Protecting your video content is important, especially if you use live and streaming services as a source of revenue. Streaming with M3U8 links ensures secure streaming and compatibility. When your video is sent using HLS delivery to an HTML5 player, the streams contain links to an M3U8 file. An M3U8 file is a playlist file used to organize and sequence multimedia files for playback in mobile applications. These M3U8 file links let the video player know where the video content is located for easy playback while also including a security token.

FFmpeg plays a crucial role in testing M3U8 files for video streaming by providing a versatile set of tools for analyzing, debugging, and validating HLS (HTTP Live Streaming) streams. Here’s how FFmpeg contributes to testing M3U8 files:

1. Playback Testing

FFmpeg can simulate a video player and attempt to stream the M3U8 file, allowing you to check if the file is accessible and playable.

Command Example:

• What It Does:
  • Attempts to load and decode the M3U8 file.
  • Outputs errors or warnings related to stream accessibility or format.

2. Stream Validation

FFmpeg checks the integrity and structure of the M3U8 file and its associated TS or fragmented MP4 segments to ensure compliance with HLS standards.

• How It Helps:
  • Verifies that all segment URLs in the M3U8 file are accessible.
  • Checks for issues like missing segments, incorrect duration metadata, or invalid codecs.

3. Performance Testing

FFmpeg can monitor streaming performance, such as buffering or bitrate variability, by downloading and processing the M3U8 file and its segments.

Command Example:

• What It Does:
  • Outputs detailed logs about each segment.
  • Provides insights into download speed, segment sizes, and potential bottlenecks.

4. Transcoding and Compatibility Testing

You can use FFmpeg to repackage or transcode the M3U8 stream into other formats to test compatibility with different devices and players.

Command Example:

• What It Does:
  • Ensures the video and audio streams are properly encoded and can be converted if needed.

5. Segment Analysis

FFmpeg allows you to download individual segments referenced in the M3U8 file and analyze their quality or encoding parameters.

Command Example:

• What It Does:
  • Extracts a specific segment for further examination.
  • Confirms if segments align with the declared M3U8 playlist metadata.

6. Bandwidth and Variant Testing

FFmpeg can test M3U8 playlists with multiple variants (adaptive bitrate streaming) by switching between different streams.

Command Example:

• What It Does:
  • Downloads and processes all variant streams.
  • Validates that bitrate ladders are correctly defined and function as expected.

7. Debugging Errors

FFmpeg outputs detailed error logs that can help identify problems such as:

• HTTP errors (e.g., 404 Not Found for segments).
• Inconsistent timestamps or duration mismatches.
• Incorrect codec profiles or levels.

Command Example:

8. Compliance Testing

Using FFmpeg, you can ensure the M3U8 file adheres to HLS specifications, including proper segment duration, encryption, and codec support.

Other Benefits of FFmpeg for M3U8 Testing:

• Open-source and free: No additional cost for testing.
• Cross-platform: Runs on Windows, macOS, Linux, etc.
• Detailed diagnostics: Comprehensive logs and debugging output.
• Flexible: Supports playback, encoding, transcoding, and format conversion.

By integrating FFmpeg into your workflow, you can identify and resolve potential issues with M3U8 files, ensuring smooth and reliable video streaming.

How to Download and Setup FFmpeg

In order to use FFmpeg for live streaming, you must first download the software.

The easiest way to download FFmpeg is from the website directly. The installation will look different depending on what operating system you use.

Here is a brief walkthrough for setting up FFmpeg on Linux, macOS, and Windows.

1. Linux Installation

The FFmpeg website has Linux packages for Debian, Ubuntu, Fedora, and Red Hat Enterprise Linux. Many other distros should be able to easily install FFmpeg using their location variation of the install command. For example:

sudo apt-get install ffmpeg

However, we recommend compiling FFmpeg yourself because this approach allows you to stream RTMP videos via the librtmp library. To do so, we’ll use Ubuntu as our example distro.

To start, run the following commands:

$ sudo apt-get update

$ sudo apt-get install build-essential git libssl-dev

Then, retrieve the librtmp source code on the official git repository.

$ git clone git://git.ffmpeg.org/rtmpdump

Next, browse the local repository’s folder. Once there, run the compilation process.

$ cd rtmpdump

$ cd librtmp

$ make

Next, install the library in your system’s root directory.

# DESTDIR=/usr make install

Then, you need to install and manually compile libaacplus. You also need to install other dependencies. At this point, you’ll run the following commands:

$ sudo apt-get install libfftw3-dev pkg-config autoconf automake libtool unzip

$ wget https://tipok.org.ua/downloads/media/aacplus/libaacplus/libaacplus-2.0.2.tar.gz

$ tar -xzf libaacplus-2.0.2.tar.gz

$ cd libaacplus-2.0.2

$ ./autogen.sh –enable-shared –enable-static

$ make

$ sudo make install

$ sudo ldconfig

# apt-get install yasm libfaac-dev libfdk-aac-dev libfreetype6-dev libmp3lame-dev libopencore-amrnb-dev libopencore-amrwb-dev libopenjpeg-dev libopus-dev libschroedinger-dev libspeex-dev libtheora-dev libvo-aacenc-dev libvorbis-dev libvpx-dev libx264-dev libxvidcore-dev

Now, you’ll retrieve the ffmpeg source code from the official git repository:

$ git clone https://github.com/FFmpeg/FFmpeg.git

Browse to the local repository’s folder, then run the compilation process:

$ cd FFmpeg

$ ./configure –enable-gpl –enable-version3 –enable-nonfree –enable-postproc –enable-libaacplus –enable-libfaac –enable-libfdk-aac –enable-libfreetype –enable-libmp3lame –enable-libopencore-amrnb –enable-libopencore-amrwb –enable-libopenjpeg –enable-openssl –enable-libopus –enable-libschroedinger –enable-libspeex –enable-libtheora –enable-libvo-aacenc –enable-libvorbis –enable-libvpx –enable-libx264 –enable-libxvid –prefix=/usr/local –enable-librtmp

$ make

Finally, use this code to install ffmpeg in your system’s root directory:

# make install

2. macOS Installation

As with Linux, we recommend macOS users compile a custom build of FFmpeg. You can do so with the help of the Brew package manager.

You’ll also need to install Command Line tools. To set up these dependencies, use the following commands in the “Terminal” application, then follow any prompts that may appear:

xcode-select –install

/usr/bin/ruby -e “$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/master/install)”

Once you’ve set up Command Line tools and Brew, you’re ready to install FFmpeg.

Use the following commands in your terminal:

First, install librtmp with brew:

brew install librtmp

Then, install libx264 with brew:

brew install libx264

Next, install libfdk-aac with brew:

brew install fdk-aac

Finally, install FFmpeg with all the specific libraries:

brew install ffmpeg –enable-libfdk-aac –with-x264 –with-rtmpdump

3. Windows Installation:

Windows users can install FFmpeg using pre-built packages on the “Builds” page of the FFmpeg website.

How to Use FFmpeg for Live Streaming

To start live streaming with FFmpeg, you have to download and install the software on your computer. You can choose the right installation method for your operating system from the three options above in this FFmpeg tutorial. 

At this point, you can also create a streaming channel on your video hosting platform.

Once FFmpeg is installed on your computer, it is time to connect it to your video hosting solution. You can connect FFmpeg as an encoder. Your video hosting manager will provide credentials to enter into FFmpeg.

These credentials are typically found in the encoder setup section of your streaming channel on your video hosting platform, and they include the login, password, stream name, and stream URL.

From there, you’ll need to input the credentials in FFmpeg. You’ll need to paste the following snippet of code into the text editor or CLI:

$ ffmpeg -re -f lavfi -i testsrc -c:v libx264 -b:v 1600k -preset ultrafast -b 900k -c:a libfdk_aac -b:a 128k -s 1920×1080 -x264opts keyint=50 -g 25 -pix_fmt yuv420p -f flv “rtmp://p.ep246802.i.akamaientrypoint.net/EntryPoint flashver=FMLE/3.020(compatible;20FMSc/1.0) live=true pubUser=123456 pubPasswd=789123 playpath=dclive_1_1@246802”

You’ll need to replace the “rtmp://…” text with your Stream URL link, set “pubUser” to your login, “pubPasswd” to your password, and “playpath” to your Stream Name.

When you execute this command, you will begin an x264 live stream at 480p resolution (downscaled from 1080p HD) at 1600 kbps bitrate, with a 900kb buffer.

Important Notes about FFmpeg Live Streaming

Here are some other things to keep in mind when live streaming with FFmpeg:

• You should also replace “-f lavfi -i testsrc” with “-i” then the source of your own camera feed or other program feed (-i /your_source_path). Otherwise, you will not have your live stream but only the test screen.
• A recurring typo in fdk aac usage during the installation process, you need to enter “–enable-fdk–aac” but when you use it in the command it is “-c:a libfdk_aac”
• For better quality, you can change the “preset” flag to “fast” rather than “ultrafast.”
• If you want low latency, you can add the flag “-tune zerolatency” directly after the preset flag. Both of these commands require additional processing power.
• To increase the buffer size for smoother playback, replace “-b 900k” with “-buffsize 3000k.”
• Make sure you’re using the best settings for you. These include setting video and audio bitrates according to your internet connection, resolutions consistent with those bitrates, and keyframe intervals at 2s.

Check out our dedicated guides for using FFMPEG with Dacast on Linux and Mac.

How to Live Stream Using FFmpeg and Dacast

Once you’ve downloaded and set up FFmpeg, you’re ready to broadcast a live stream over Dacast. We offer secure video upload and many other features to make streaming live accessible to all kinds of broadcasters.

Let’s take a look at the three steps for setting up FFmpeg to live stream via Dacast. This is a simple FFmpeg tutorial for working with Dacast. 

1. Open Dacast’s Encoder Setup

First, you need to gather the encoder setup information from your Dacast account. 

In a web browser, visit the Dacast website and log in to your account. Click on (or create) the live channel you wish to stream on, then click on “Encoder setup.” 

Select “Other RTMP encoder” on the left side of the screen.

2. Find Your Credentials

On the right side of the screen, copy down these pieces of information: Login, Password, Stream URL, and Stream Name.

3. Run The Following Command

Next, copy the command into a text editor or directly into your CLI as we described in the general FFmpeg tutorial above. Make sure to properly input your stream URL, login, password, and stream name.

Again, the command should look like this:

$ ffmpeg -re -f lavfi -i testsrc -c:v libx264 -b:v 1600k -preset ultrafast -b 900k -c:a libfdk_aac -b:a 128k -s 1920×1080 -x264opts keyint=50 -g 25 -pix_fmt yuv420p -f flv “rtmp://[STREAM URL] flashver=FMLE/3.020(compatible;20FMSc/1.0) live=true pubUser=[LOGIN]Passwd=[PASSWORD]playpath=[STREAM NAME]

Once that command has been inserted, you should be ready to stream.

Please check out our encoder setup guide for a more detailed tutorial on setting up FFmpeg and other similar software with Dacast.

FAQs

1. Can you stream video with FFmpeg?

Yes. FFmpeg can be used to stream video. It supports various input formats and can output the video stream in various formats like RTMP, HLS, MPEG-TS, etc. to stream to platforms like YouTube, Facebook, Twitch, and more.

2. Can FFmpeg transcode live stream?

Yes, FFmpeg can be used to transcode live stream. This is particularly useful when the input video stream or audio stream does not match the required specifications of the streaming platform. FFmpeg can take the live input, decode it, and then re-encode it with the appropriate video codec, bitrate, and other parameters needed for the target streaming service. This process happens in real-time, allowing FFmpeg real-time encoding of the transcoded stream to the FFmpeg stream server for broadcasting. 

3. What bitrate is FFmpeg streaming?

The bitrate used for ffmpeg streaming can be configured based on the specific requirements of the streaming platform and the available network bandwidth. FFmpeg provides options to set the video bitrate and the audio bitrate to achieve the desired output quality. Typical bitrate ranges for ffmpeg video stream can be:

• Video: 1500-6000 kbps for 720p, 3000-8000 kbps for 1080p
• Audio: 128-256 kbps

Based on FFmpeg streaming guide, you can experiment with different bitrate settings to find the right balance between quality and bandwidth usage for your specific use case.

4. Does FFmpeg streaming server support RTMP?

Yes, FFmpeg supports the RTMP protocol, which is widely used for ffmpeg rtmp stream and ffmpeg broadcast applications. FFmpeg can both consume RTMP streams as input and output RTMP streams for delivery to streaming platforms. This makes FFmpeg a versatile ffmpeg streaming server solution, allowing users to ingest content from various sources, transcode it if necessary, and then push the final stream to the target RTMP-based streaming service.

5. What FFmpeg output formats are available?

FFmpeg supports several output formats for video and audio streams. Popular video container formats include MP4 (H.264), MOV (H.264), FLV (commonly used for RTMP streaming), and MKV. Audio formats include AAC, MP3, and FLAC.

Conclusion

FFmpeg is a bit complex since it uses a command-line interface, but there’s no denying that this powerful piece of software is highly useful in the right situation and with the right knowledge. We hope that this FFmpeg tutorial article has provided you with the tools and the confidence to use FFMPEG to broadcast live streams.

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Are you searching for a live streaming and video hosting platform to support your broadcast live stream projects? If so, why not give Dacast a try? We offer a 14-day free trial (no credit card required), and we’d love to get you set up to test out all our features today!

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Thanks for reading, and good luck with your live broadcasts!