Live stream from your desktop

It provides guidance to test live streaming (mostly RTMP, mpeg-dash or hls) or vod from your own desktop using FFmpeg, it's pretty useful for testing and learning purposes.

MacOS

Tested with:

• MacOS High Siera 10.13, 10.15.2, Ubuntu 18.04
• Warning: The video asset used for looping streaming is more than hundreds of MBs.

Requirements

docker
wget
curl

Simulating HLS / DASH with multiple renditions/resolutions and DVR

HLS

Run this server in one of your tabs:

curl -s https://raw.githubusercontent.com/leandromoreira/live-stream-from-desktop/master/start_http_server.sh | sh

Run this encoder in another of your tabs:

curl -s https://raw.githubusercontent.com/leandromoreira/live-stream-from-desktop/master/start_hls_abr_live_stream.sh | sh

Access the stream at http://localhost:8080/master.m3u8 or at clappr's demo page

HLS looping the file

If you want to use a video file instead of a synthetic media, run this encoder in another of your tabs:

curl -s https://raw.githubusercontent.com/leandromoreira/live-stream-from-desktop/master/start_hls_abr_live_stream_file_loop.sh | sh

DASH

Run this server in one of your tabs:

curl -s https://raw.githubusercontent.com/leandromoreira/live-stream-from-desktop/master/start_http_server.sh | sh

Run this encoder in another of your tabs:

curl -s https://raw.githubusercontent.com/leandromoreira/live-stream-from-desktop/master/start_dash_abr_live_stream.sh | sh

Access the stream at http://localhost:8080/out.mpd or go to dashjs's demo page

Simulating an HLS and MPEG-DASH live streaming for latency comparison

HLS

Run this server in one of your tabs:

curl -s https://raw.githubusercontent.com/leandromoreira/live-stream-from-desktop/master/start_http_server.sh | sh

Run this encoder in another of your tabs:

curl -s https://raw.githubusercontent.com/leandromoreira/live-stream-from-desktop/master/start_hls_low_latency_live_stream.sh | sh

Access the stream at http://localhost:8080/stream.m3u8 or at clappr's demo page

MPEG-DASH

Run this server in one of your tabs:

curl -s https://raw.githubusercontent.com/leandromoreira/live-stream-from-desktop/master/start_http_server.sh | sh

Run this encoder in another of your tabs:

curl -s https://raw.githubusercontent.com/leandromoreira/live-stream-from-desktop/master/start_mpeg_dash_low_latency_live_stream.sh | sh

Access the stream at http://localhost:8080/stream.mpd

Requirements

# I assume you have brew already

# or you could use curl
brew install wget
brew install ffmpeg
brew install node

# the http server
npm install http-server -g

#  WARNING IT IS A HUGE download file (263M)
wget -O bunny_1080p_30fps.mp4 http://distribution.bbb3d.renderfarming.net/video/mp4/bbb_sunflower_1080p_30fps_normal.mp4

Sending live RTMP from your local machine

Single Bitrate

From a pseudo FFmpeg video source color bar and generated audio signal made of a sine wave with amplitude 1/8.

ffmpeg -hide_banner \
-re -f lavfi -i "testsrc2=size=1280x720:rate=30,format=yuv420p" \
-f lavfi -i "sine=frequency=1000:sample_rate=4800" \
-c:v libx264 -preset ultrafast -tune zerolatency -profile:v high \
-b:v 1400k -bufsize 2800k -x264opts keyint=30:min-keyint=30:scenecut=-1 \
-c:a aac -b:a 128k -f flv rtmp://<HOST>:1935/live/<STREAM>

From a file.

ffmpeg -stream_loop -1 \
-re -i <YOUR_VIDEO>.mp4  -c:v libx264 \
-x264opts keyint=30:min-keyint=30:scenecut=-1 -tune zerolatency \
-s 1280x720 -b:v 1400k -bufsize 2800k \
-f flv rtmp://<HOST>:1935/live/<STREAM>

Multiple Bitrates

From a pseudo FFmpeg video source color bar and generated audio signal made of a sine wave with amplitude 1/8.

ffmpeg -hide_banner \
-re -f lavfi -i "testsrc2=size=1280x720:rate=30,format=yuv420p" \
-f lavfi -i "sine=frequency=1000:sample_rate=4800" \
-c:v libx264 -preset ultrafast -tune zerolatency -profile:v high \
-b:v 1400k -bufsize 2800k -x264opts keyint=30:min-keyint=30:scenecut=-1 \
-c:a aac -b:a 128k -f flv rtmp://<HOST>:1935/live/<STREAM> \
-c:v libx264 -preset ultrafast -tune zerolatency -profile:v high \
-b:v 750k -bufsize 1500k -s 640x360 -x264opts keyint=30:min-keyint=30:scenecut=-1 \
-c:a aac -b:a 128k -f flv rtmp://<HOST>:1935/live/<STREAM> 

From a file.

ffmpeg -stream_loop -1 \
-re -i <YOUR_VIDEO>.mp4  -c:v libx264 \
-x264opts keyint=30:min-keyint=30:scenecut=-1 -tune zerolatency \
-s 1280x720 -b:v 1400k -bufsize 2800k \
-f flv rtmp://<HOST>:1935/live/<STREAM> \
-x264opts keyint=30:min-keyint=30:scenecut=-1 -tune zerolatency \
-s 640x360 -b:v 750k -bufsize 1500k \
-f flv rtmp://<HOST>:1935/live/<STREAM>

Simulating a MPEG-DASH live streaming from a file

Open a terminal and run the ffmpeg command:

ffmpeg -stream_loop -1 -re -i bunny_1080p_30fps.mp4 \
       -c:v libx264 -x264opts keyint=30:min-keyint=30:scenecut=-1 \
       -preset superfast -profile:v baseline -level 3.0 \
       -tune zerolatency -s 1280x720 -b:v 1400k \
       -bufsize 1400k -use_timeline 1 -use_template 1 \
       -init_seg_name init-\$RepresentationID\$.mp4 \
       -min_seg_duration 2000000 -media_seg_name test-\$RepresentationID\$-\$Number\$.mp4 \
       -f dash stream.mpd

In another tab, run the following command to fire up the server:

http-server -a :: -p 8081 --cors -c-1

Now you can test this with your player (using the URL http://localhost:8081/stream.mpd).

Simulating an HLS live streaming from a file

Open a terminal and run the ffmpeg command:

ffmpeg -stream_loop -1 -re -i bunny_1080p_30fps.mp4 -c:v libx264 \
          -x264opts keyint=30:min-keyint=30:scenecut=-1 \
          -tune zerolatency -s 1280x720 \
          -b:v 1400k -bufsize 1400k \
          -hls_start_number_source epoch -f hls stream.m3u8

In another tab, run the following command to fire up the server:

http-server -a :: -p 8081 --cors -c-1

Now you can test this with your player (using the URL http://localhost:8081/stream.m3u8).

Simulating a MPEG-DASH live streaming from MacOS camera

Open a terminal and run the ffmpeg command:

ffmpeg -re -pix_fmt uyvy422 -f avfoundation -i "0" -pix_fmt yuv420p \
       -c:v libx264 -x264opts keyint=30:min-keyint=30:scenecut=-1 \
       -preset superfast -profile:v baseline -level 3.0 \
       -tune zerolatency -s 1280x720 -b:v 1400k \
       -bufsize 1400k -use_timeline 1 -use_template 1 \
       -init_seg_name init-\$RepresentationID\$.mp4 \
       -min_seg_duration 2000000 -media_seg_name test-\$RepresentationID\$-\$Number\$.mp4 \
       -f dash stream.mpd

In another tab, run the following command to fire up the server:

http-server -a :: -p 8081 --cors -c-1

Now you can test this with your player (using the URL http://localhost:8081/stream.mpd).

Simulating a HLS live streaming from MacOS camera

Playing Camera/Mic in FFplay

ffplay  -f avfoundation -video_device_index 0 -audio_device_index 0 \
        -pixel_format uyvy422 -framerate 30 -video_size 1280x720 -i "default"

MacOS Camera/Mic to HLS

Open a terminal and run the ffmpeg command:

ffmpeg  -f avfoundation -video_device_index 0 -audio_device_index 0 \
        -pixel_format uyvy422 -framerate 30 -video_size 640x480 -i "default" \
        -c:v libx264 -x264opts keyint=30:min-keyint=30:scenecut=-1 \
        -tune zerolatency -b:v 1000k -bufsize 2000k \
        -c:a aac -b:a 128k \
        -hls_time 5 -hls_start_number_source epoch \
        -f hls stream.m3u8

In another tab, run the following command to fire up the server:

http-server -a :: -p 8081 --cors -c-1

Now you can test this with your player (using the URL http://localhost:8081/stream.m3u8).

MacOS Camera/Mic to Twitch/Youtube/RTMP

Open a terminal and run the ffmpeg command:

ffmpeg  -f avfoundation -video_device_index 0 -audio_device_index 0 \
        -pixel_format uyvy422 -framerate 30 -video_size 640x480 -i "default" \
        -c:v libx264 -x264opts keyint=30:min-keyint=30:scenecut=-1 \
        -tune zerolatency -b:v 600k -bufsize 1200k -preset superfast \
        -c:a aac -b:a 128k \
        -f flv rtmp://yourserver:1935/live/yourstream_key

Simulating an RTMP live streaming listening server with FFmpeg

#!/bin/bash
# this is necessary since ffmpeg stop listening once a player drops
while true
do
        ffmpeg -hide_banner -loglevel verbose \
          -re -f lavfi -i testsrc2=size=1280x720:rate=30,format=yuv420p \
          -f lavfi -i sine=frequency=1000:sample_rate=44100 \
          -c:v libx264 -preset veryfast -tune zerolatency -profile:v baseline \
          -vf "drawtext=text='RTMP streaming':box=1:boxborderw=10:x=(w-text_w)/2:y=(h-text_h)/2:fontsize=128:fontcolor=black" \
          -b:v 1000k -bufsize 2000k -x264opts keyint=30:min-keyint=30:scenecut=-1 \
          -c:a aac -b:a 128k \
          -f flv -listen 1 -rtmp_live live "rtmp://0.0.0.0:1935/live/app"
	sleep 0.4
done

Simulating an SRT live streaming

ffmpeg -hide_banner -loglevel verbose \
    -re -f lavfi -i "testsrc2=size=1280x720:rate=30,format=yuv420p" \
    -f lavfi -i "sine=frequency=1000:sample_rate=44100" \
    -c:v libx264 -preset veryfast -tune zerolatency -profile:v baseline \
    -b:v 1000k -bufsize 2000k -x264opts keyint=30:min-keyint=30:scenecut=-1 \
    -f mpegts "srt://0.0.0.0:1234?mode=listener&smoother=live&transtype=live"

Bonus Round:

FFmpeg generating sample files for testing purpose

You can replace codecs, duration, text, and parameters (resolution, sample rate, presets, and so on) to attend your needs. Here's 10.5 seconds clip.

ffmpeg -y -hide_banner -loglevel verbose \
    -f lavfi -i 'testsrc2=size=768x432:duration=10.5:rate=30,format=yuv420p' \
    -f lavfi -i 'sine=frequency=1000:duration=10.5:sample_rate=44100' \
    -c:v libx264 -preset veryfast -tune zerolatency -profile:v baseline \
    -vf "drawtext=text='Sample Test H264/AAC':box=1:boxborderw=10:x=(w-text_w)/2:y=(h-text_h)/2:fontsize=64:fontcolor=black" \
    -b:v 1000k -bufsize 1000k -x264opts 'keyint=30:min-keyint=30:scenecut=-1' \
    -c:a aac -b:a 128k \
    sample_10.5s_h246_30fps_768x432_aac_44100.mp4

FFmpeg generating noise from /dev/random

It generates video and audio from /dev/urandom device, it produces a stream that looks A LOT like an old analog TV noise.

In analog video and television, is a random dot pixel pattern of static displayed when no transmission signal is obtained by the antenna receiver

# if you mess with the -video_size you can have bigger/smaller noise patterns than this. :D
ffmpeg -f rawvideo -pixel_format rgb8 -video_size 640x360 \
       -framerate 60 -i /dev/urandom \
       -f u8 -ar 48100 -ac 1 -i /dev/urandom \
       -sws_flags neighbor -s 640x360 urandom.mp4       

FFmpeg generating video from FFmpeg binary program

# you can replace the binary by any large binary chunk of data (library...)
ffmpeg -f rawvideo -pixel_format rgb8 -video_size 32x23 \
       -framerate 60 -i /usr/local/Cellar/ffmpeg/4.3_2/bin/ffmpeg \
       -f u8 -ar 48100 -ac 1 -i /usr/local/Cellar/ffmpeg/4.3_2/bin/ffmpeg \
       -sws_flags neighbor -s 640x360 -t 5s -pix_fmt yuv420p ffmpeg.mp4

FFmpeg generating video from Mandelbrot set

ffplay -f lavfi -i mandelbrot=size=640x320:rate=60 \
       -vf "drawtext = text = 'UTC %{gmtime}':fontsize=24:fontcolor=white:boxcolor=black@0.5:x=(w-text_w)/2:y=4:box=1:boxborderw=5"