 | This article needs additional citations for verification .(July 2014) |
This is a comparison of streaming media systems. A more complete list of streaming media systems is also available.
| | This article needs additional citations for verification .(July 2014) |
This is a comparison of streaming media systems. A more complete list of streaming media systems is also available.
The following tables compare general and technical information for a number of streaming media systems both audio and video. Please see the individual systems' linked articles for further information.
| Name | Creator | First Public Release (yyyy-MM-dd) | Latest Stable Version (Release Date) | Latest Release Date | Cost (USD) | license | Media |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Adobe Media Server | Macromedia/Adobe Systems//Veriskope Inc | 2002-07-9 | 5.0.16 (2020-2-15) | 2020-2-15 | Free Developer and Trial licenses; Subscription Licenses at $33/month; Standard Perpetual License at $995; Amazon Marketplace license starting at $0.13/hour | proprietary | Video, Audio, Data |
| atmosph3re | Guillaume Carrier | 2005-08-15 | 3.0.7 (2015-10-31) | 2015-10-31 | $30 perpetual license | proprietary | Audio |
| Darwin Streaming Server | Apple Inc. | 1999-03-16 | 6.0.3 (2007-05-10) | 2007-05-10 | Free | APSL | Audio/Video |
| Feng | LSCube [1] | 2007-05-31 | 2009-10-14 | 2009-10-04 | Free | GPL | Audio/Video |
| Firefly | Ron Pedde | ? | 0.2.4.2 (2008-04-19) | 2008-04-19 | Free | GPL | Audio |
| Helix DNA Server | RealNetworks | 2003-01-22 | 11.1 (2006-06-10) | 2006-06-10 | Free | RCSL/RPSL | Audio/Video |
| Helix Universal Server | RealNetworks | 1994-01-01 | 15.2.1 (2014-09-16) | 2014-09-16 | Free for 12 months (Basic) and $1,000-$10,000 | proprietary | Audio/Video |
| Icecast | Xiph.Org Foundation | 1998-12 | 2.4.4 (2018-10-31) | 2018-10-31 | Free | GPL | Audio |
| IIS Media Services | Microsoft | 2008-11-07 | 4.1 (2011-11-09) | 2011-11-09 | Free | proprietary | Audio/Video/Data |
| Lyrion Music Server | Logitech/LMS Community | 2001-09-16 | 8.5.2 (2024-05-20) | 2024-05-20 | Free | GPLv2 | Audio |
| Nimble Streamer | Softvelum | 2013 | 3.7.1-5 (2020-10-27) | 2020-10-27 | Free | proprietary | Audio/Video |
| OvenMediaEngine | AirenSoft | 2019-05-23 | 0.16.8 (2024-07-19) | 2024-07-19 | Free | AGPLv3 | Audio/Video |
| OpenBroadcaster | OpenBroadcaster | 2003 | 5.0.0 (2018-01-27) | 2018-01-27 | Free | AGPLv3 | Audio/Video |
| Open Broadcaster Software | OBS Project | 2012-9-01 | 30.0.2 (2023-12-10) | 2023-12-10 | Free | GPL v2 | Audio/Video |
| Plex (software) | Plex Media Server | 2008-07-08 | 1.15.6.1079 (2019-05-15) | 2019-05-15 | Free | proprietary | Audio/Video |
| Red5 (open source) | Infrared5/community | 2003-09-22 | 1.0.9 (2017-06-11) | 2018-12-13 | Free | Apache License v2 | Audio/Video/Data |
| SHOUTcast | Nullsoft | 1998-12 | 2.4.7 (Build 256) (2015-03-31) | 2015-03-31 | Free | proprietary | Audio |
| Unreal Media Server | Unreal Streaming Technologies | 2003-09-15 | 15.0 (2023-01-03) | 2023-01-03 | $995 perpetual license | proprietary | Audio/Video |
| VLC media player | VideoLAN | ? | 2.2.4 (2016-06-05) | 2016-06-05 | Free | GPL v2 | Audio/Video |
| Windows Media Services | Microsoft | 1996-12-10 | 9.6 (2010-04-05) | 2010-04-05 | Free | proprietary | Audio/Video |
| Wowza Streaming Engine | Wowza Media Systems | 2007-02-17 | 4.8.5 build 20200616153358 (2020-06-17) [2] | 2020-06-17 | Free Developer and Trial licenses; Subscription Licenses at $125/month; [3] Perpetual Pro License at $1995; Amazon EC2 with embedded license starting at $0.15/hour | proprietary | Audio/Video/Data |
| Name | Windows | macOS | Linux | Unix |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Adobe Media Server | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| atmosph3re | Yes | No | No | No |
| Darwin Streaming Server | Yes | Yes | No | Yes |
| Firefly | Yes | ? | Yes | Yes |
| Helix DNA Server | Yes | ? | Yes | Yes |
| Helix Universal Server | Yes | No | Yes | Yes |
| Icecast | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| IIS Media Services | Yes | No | No | No |
| Lyrion Music Server | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Nimble Streamer | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| OvenMediaEngine | Yes (with Docker) | Yes (with Docker) | Yes | No |
| OpenBroadcaster | No | No | Yes | ? |
| Open Broadcaster Software | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? |
| Plex (software) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Red5 (open source) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| SHOUTcast | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Unreal Media Server | Yes | No | No | No |
| VLC media player | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Windows Media Services | Yes | No | No | No |
| Wowza Streaming Engine | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
 | This section needs expansionwith: information. You can help by adding to it. (October 2007) |
Information about what digital container formats are supported.
| Name | 3GP | AVI | ASF | QuickTime | Ogg | OGM | Matroska | MP4 | MPEG-TS | FLV | ABR | WebM |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Adobe Media Server | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | ? |
| atmosph3re | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? |
| Darwin Streaming Server | Yes | ? | ? | Yes | ? | ? | ? | Yes | No | No | No | ? |
| Firefly | ? | No | ? | ? | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
| Helix DNA Server | ? | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | ? | ? |
| Helix Universal Server | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? |
| Icecast | ? | Yes | ? | ? | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | No | No | Yes |
| IIS Media Services | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? |
| Nimble Streamer | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? |
| OvenMediaEngine | No | Yes | No | No | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| OpenBroadcaster | No | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | ? | No | ? | ? |
| Red5 (open source) | Yes | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? |
| SHOUTcast | ? | Yes | ? | ? | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | No | No | ? |
| Unreal Media Server | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? |
| VLC media player | ? | Yes | ? | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? |
| Windows Media Services | ? | ? | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | No | No | ? |
| Wowza Streaming Engine | Yes | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? |
| | This section needs expansionwith: information. You can help by adding to it. (October 2007) |
Information about which internet protocols are supported for broadcasting streaming media content.
| Name | HTTP | MPEG DASH | WebRTC | RTSP | MMS | RTP | RTCP | UDP | TCP | RTMP | MPEG TS | Real Data Transport | Web sockets | HLS | DASH | SRTP |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Adobe Media Server | Yes (HTTP Live Streaming, HTTP Dynamic Streaming) | ? | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? |
| atmosph3re | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ||||
| Darwin Streaming Server | No | ? | ? | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ||||
| Firefly | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ||||
| Helix DNA Server | Yes | No | No | Yes | No | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | Yes | ||||
| Helix Universal Server | Yes (HTTP Live Streaming, MPEG-DASH, HTTP Progressive Streaming) | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | ||||
| Icecast | Yes | ? | ? | No | No | No | No | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ||||
| IIS Media Services | Yes | ? | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | ||||
| Nimble Streamer | Yes (HTTP Live Streaming, Smooth Streaming) | Yes | No | Yes | No | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| OvenMediaEngine | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| OpenBroadcaster | Yes | No | No | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | ? | Yes | ||||
| Red5 (open source) [4] | Yes | No | In Development | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | Yes (RTMP, RTMPE, RTMPTE, RTMPT, RTMPS, RTMP Dynamic Streaming) | No | Yes | Yes | ? | No | |
| SHOUTcast | Yes | ? | ? | No | No | No | No | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ||||
| Unreal Media Server | Yes (HTTP Live Streaming, Smooth Streaming) | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes (RTMP, RTMPT, Dynamic RTMP) | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| VLC media player | Yes | ? | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes | |||
| Windows Media Services | Yes (WM-HTTP) | ? | No | Yes (WM-RTSP) | Yes, for WMS 9.0 and earlier; removed in WMS 2008 (9.5) [5] | Yes (WM-RTSP) | No | Yes (WM-RTSP/U and MS-MSB) | Yes (WM-RTSP/T and WM-HTTP) | No | No | No | ||||
| Wowza Streaming Engine | Yes (HTTP Live Streaming, Smooth Streaming, HTTP Dynamic Streaming) | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes (RTMP, RTMPE, RTMPTE, RTMPT, RTMPS, RTMP Dynamic Streaming) | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes | |
| Name | HTTP | MPEG DASH | WebRTC | RTSP | MMS | RTP | RTCP | UDP | TCP | RTMP | MPEG TS | Real Data Transport | Web sockets | HLS | DASH | SRTP |
| | This section needs expansionwith: information. You can help by adding to it. (January 2013) |
| Name | Client Playback Synchronization | Web Interface | Graphical user interface | iOS SDK | Android SDK | Javascript SDK |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lyrion Music Server | Yes | Yes | No | |||
| Red5 (open source) | No | Yes | Yes | No | No | No |
| VLC media player | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Streaming media refers to multimedia for playback using an offline or online media player that is delivered through a network. Media is transferred in a "stream" of packets from a server to a client and is rendered in real-time; this contrasts with file downloading, a process in which the end-user obtains an entire media file before consuming the content. Streaming is presently most prevalent in video-on-demand, streaming television, and music streaming services over the Internet.
Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB) is a set of international open standards for digital television. DVB standards are maintained by the DVB Project, an international industry consortium, and are published by a Joint Technical Committee (JTC) of the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI), European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardization (CENELEC) and European Broadcasting Union (EBU).
Terrestrial television or over-the-air television (OTA) is a type of television broadcasting in which the content is transmitted via radio waves from the terrestrial (Earth-based) transmitter of a TV station to a TV receiver having an antenna. The term terrestrial is more common in Europe and Latin America, while in Canada and the United States it is called over-the-air or simply broadcast. This type of TV broadcast is distinguished from newer technologies, such as satellite television, in which the signal is transmitted to the receiver from an overhead satellite; cable television, in which the signal is carried to the receiver through a cable; and Internet Protocol television, in which the signal is received over an Internet stream or on a network utilizing the Internet Protocol. Terrestrial television stations broadcast on television channels with frequencies between about 52 and 600 MHz in the VHF and UHF bands. Since radio waves in these bands travel by line of sight, reception is generally limited by the visual horizon to distances of 64–97 kilometres (40–60 mi), although under better conditions and with tropospheric ducting, signals can sometimes be received hundreds of kilometers distant.
Advanced Television Systems Committee (ATSC) standards are an international set of standards for broadcast and digital television transmission over terrestrial, cable and satellite networks. It is largely a replacement for the analog NTSC standard and, like that standard, is used mostly in the United States, Mexico, Canada, South Korea and Trinidad & Tobago. Several former NTSC users, such as Japan, have not used ATSC during their digital television transition, because they adopted other systems such as ISDB developed by Japan, and DVB developed in Europe, for example.
Advanced Systems Format is Microsoft's proprietary digital audio/digital video container format, especially meant for streaming media. ASF is part of the Media Foundation framework.
Shoutcast is a service for streaming media over the internet to media players, using its own cross-platform proprietary software. It allows digital audio content, primarily in MP3 or High-Efficiency Advanced Audio Coding format. The most common use of Shoutcast is for creating or listening to Internet audio broadcasts; however, there are also video streams. The software is available to use for free or as a paid cloud service with additional professional features.
Streaming television is the digital distribution of television content, such as television series and films, streamed over the Internet. Standing in contrast to dedicated terrestrial television delivered by over-the-air aerial systems, cable television, and/or satellite television systems, streaming television is provided as over-the-top media (OTT), or as Internet Protocol television (IPTV). In the United States, streaming television has become "the dominant form of TV viewing."
Datacasting is the transmission of data over a wide area using radio waves. It typically refers to supplemental information sent by television stations alongside digital terrestrial television (DTT) signals. However, datacasting can also be applied to digital data signals carried on analog TV or radio broadcasts.
Electronic programming guides (EPGs) and interactive programming guides (IPGs) are menu-based systems that provide users of television, radio, and other media applications with continuously updated menus that display scheduling information for current and upcoming broadcast programming. Some guides also feature backward scrolling to promote their catch up content. They are commonly known as guides or TV guides.
A container format or metafile is a file format that allows multiple data streams to be embedded into a single file, usually along with metadata for identifying and further detailing those streams. Notable examples of container formats include archive files and formats used for multimedia playback. Among the earliest cross-platform container formats were Distinguished Encoding Rules and the 1985 Interchange File Format.
P2PTV refers to peer-to-peer (P2P) software applications designed to redistribute video streams in real time on a P2P network; the distributed video streams are typically TV channels from all over the world but may also come from other sources. The draw to these applications is significant because they have the potential to make any TV channel globally available by any individual feeding the stream into the network where each peer joining to watch the video is a relay to other peer viewers, allowing a scalable distribution among a large audience with no incremental cost for the source.
Real-Time Messaging Protocol (RTMP) is a communication protocol for streaming audio, video, and data over the Internet. Originally developed as a proprietary protocol by Macromedia for streaming between Flash Player and the Flash Communication Server, Adobe has released an incomplete version of the specification of the protocol for public use.
RSS-TV is an XML-based navigation protocol for Internet media services based on the RSS standard.
HTTP Live Streaming is an HTTP-based adaptive bitrate streaming communications protocol developed by Apple Inc. and released in 2009. Support for the protocol is widespread in media players, web browsers, mobile devices, and streaming media servers. As of 2022, an annual video industry survey has consistently found it to be the most popular streaming format.
Over-the-top media service refers to a media service offered directly to viewers via the public Internet, rather than through an over-the-air, cable, or satellite-based provider. The term is synonymous with "streaming platform", such as Netflix and Amazon Prime Video which provide access to subscription-based film and television content (SVoD).
Dynamic Adaptive Streaming over HTTP (DASH), also known as MPEG-DASH, is an adaptive bitrate streaming technique that enables high quality streaming of media content over the Internet delivered from conventional HTTP web servers. Similar to Apple's HTTP Live Streaming (HLS) solution, MPEG-DASH works by breaking the content into a sequence of small segments, which are served over HTTP. An early HTTP web server based streaming system called SProxy was developed and deployed in the Hewlett Packard Laboratories in 2006. It showed how to use HTTP range requests to break the content into small segments. SProxy shows the effectiveness of segment based streaming, gaining best Internet penetration due to the wide deployment of firewalls, and reducing the unnecessary traffic transmission if a user chooses to terminate the streaming session earlier before reaching the end. Each segment contains a short interval of playback time of content that is potentially many hours in duration, such as a movie or the live broadcast of a sport event. The content is made available at a variety of different bit rates, i.e., alternative segments encoded at different bit rates covering aligned short intervals of playback time. While the content is being played back by an MPEG-DASH client, the client uses a bit rate adaptation (ABR) algorithm to automatically select the segment with the highest bit rate possible that can be downloaded in time for playback without causing stalls or re-buffering events in the playback. The current MPEG-DASH reference client dash.js offers both buffer-based (BOLA) and hybrid (DYNAMIC) bit rate adaptation algorithms. Thus, an MPEG-DASH client can seamlessly adapt to changing network conditions and provide high quality playback with few stalls or re-buffering events.
MPEG media transport (MMT), specified as ISO/IEC 23008-1, is a digital container standard developed by Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG) that supports High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) video. MMT was designed to transfer data using the all-Internet Protocol (All-IP) network.
OvenMediaEngine (OME) is a low-latency streaming server with large-scale and high-definition that AirenSoft Co., Ltd. released as open-source software via GitHub in December 2018. The main programming language used was C++, and the first update was on May 23, 2019.