In simple English
This tool lets you host your own live video streaming server. You can broadcast video and audio to viewers from your own hardware. It uses Java and handles connections using the RTMP protocol. You will need programming knowledge to build and set it up. It costs nothing to download and use under an open-source licence.
What it is
Red5 Server core is a Java (a programming language used to build large applications) media server that supports the RTMP (Real-Time Messaging Protocol, a network rule for streaming video and audio) protocol. It provides a plugin architecture for building custom live streaming and video-on-demand applications.
What it is good for
Developers and hobbyists who want to build a self-hosted live streaming server or experiment with video protocols without paying for commercial software.
- Free and open-source under the Apache-2.0 licence.
- Flexible plugin architecture for custom video applications.
- Battle-tested codebase used by large organizations and commercial spin-offs.
- Only supports the RTMP protocol in the open-source version.
- Requires Java 11 or newer and Maven to build from source.
- Setup requires programming skills and server administration knowledge.
commercial live streaming platforms
ffmpeg
- bluenviron/mediamtx20k stars
Zero-dependency media server that supports many more streaming protocols than Red5.
- shaka-project/shaka-packager2.6k stars
Cuts a video file into the pieces and index files that a browser needs in order to stream it.
- mpv-player/mpv38k stars
A command-line media player that handles most audio, video and subtitle formats and can be driven entirely from scripts.
- snapcast/snapcast8.0k stars
A server and clients that play one audio stream in several rooms, kept in time with each other.
mvn -Dmaven.test.skip=true clean package -P assemble