Send an RTMP Stream to Wowza Streaming Cloud With OBS Studio

 

One workflow we commonly see at Wowza involves pairing a free software encoder with Wowza Streaming Cloud so that the live stream can be processed for delivery to any device. The ability to connect any encoder that supports the Real-Time Messaging Protocol (RTMP) to our cloud-based service allows you to integrate live streaming into any workflow, using the equipment you already have.

In this video, we’ll show you how to use Open Broadcaster Software (OBS) Studio, a free and open-source streaming and recording solution, as the source for an RTMP-based live video stream. From there, we’ll walk through sending the live content to Wowza Streaming Cloud, repackaging it as an Apple HLS stream, and distributing it for playback using THEOplayer.

 
Full Video Transcript:

Justin Miller:

RTMP for the encoder and HLS for the player is generally how live video streaming to your own website is done. To see this process in action, we’ll use Wowza Streaming Cloud as the media server to transmux the protocol, OBS Studio as the encoder, and THEOplayer for playback. Starting in Wowza Streaming Cloud, we’ll use the Live Streams dropdown to Add Live Stream. We’ll name this ‘live stream’, and then select the nearest server for transmuxing and transcoding. On the next page, scroll down and choose Other RTMP. For the sake of simplicity, we’ll leave everything else on the successive pages as default. For now, we’ll finish up and the live stream will be created.

Scroll down to get the source connection information. We’re going to need to enter some of this information in OBS Studio, starting with the primary server. In OBS Studio, you’ll need to add a source if you haven’t already. I recommend a video capture device for this. I’ll be using a webcam for this process. Now, once you’re done setting up a source, go into Settings. And under Stream, you can add your source connection information by changing the service to Custom. Beyond the primary server, we’ll also need to copy the stream name to be the stream key. Also, as Wowza Streaming Cloud is a cloud-based service, we’ll need to use authentication, which requires a username and password for security.

Once all this has been entered, we can Save our settings. Now to start streaming, you’ll need to go back into Wowza Streaming Cloud and click Start your live stream now. Don’t forget to shut it down when you’re finished since your live stream incurs charges based on usage. When it’s up and running, you can go back to OBS Studio and Start Streaming. Once streaming, it may take 12 to 45 seconds for it to appear in the player, depending on how you’ve tuned your latency. In Wowza Streaming Cloud, you can see a video thumbnail and statistics that let you know what’s working. While a hosted page and even embed code for a player are provided, we’ll be using the HLS URL to test with. THEOplayer offers a number of demo opportunities with their player. We’ll be testing this HLS stream by going to the right demo and pasting in the HLS URL. Then just load the stream, and finally click Play. Alright. That’s it for this live streaming demo. Thanks for watching, everyone, and happy streaming.

 

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About Traci Ruether

Traci Ruether is a Colorado-based B2B tech writer with a background in streaming and network infrastructure. Aside from writing, Traci enjoys cooking, gardening, and spending quality time with her kith and kin. Follow her on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/traci-ruether/ or learn more at https://traci-writes.com/.