PeerTube

Last updated
PeerTube
Developer(s) Framasoft
Initial release11 October 2018;
5 years ago (2018-10-11)
Stable release
6.0.3 [1]   OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg / 18 January 2024;
2 months ago (18 January 2024)
Repository github.com/Chocobozzz/PeerTube
Written in TypeScript, HTML, CSS, SQL
Operating system Unix-like
Platform Web
Size 2.49 MB (tar.xz), 30.70 MB (zip)
Available in28 languages [2]
License AGPLv3+ [3]
Website joinpeertube.org OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg

PeerTube is a free and open-source, decentralized, ActivityPub federated video platform powered by WebTorrent, that uses peer-to-peer technology to reduce load on individual servers when viewing videos.

Contents

Started in 2017 by a programmer known as Chocobozzz, development of PeerTube is now supported by the French non-profit Framasoft. [4] The aim is to provide an alternative to centralized platforms such as YouTube, Vimeo, and Dailymotion.

As an ActivityPub platform, it is part of the federated network known as the Fediverse.

Operation

Each PeerTube instance provides a website to browse and watch videos, and is by default independent from others in terms of appearance, features and rules.

Several instances, with common rules (e.g. allowing for similar content, requiring registration) can form federations, where they follow one's videos, even though each video is stored only by the instance that published it. [5] Federations are independent from each other [6] [7] and asymmetrical: one instance can follow another to display their videos without them having to do the same. Instances' administrators can each choose to mirror individual videos or whole friend instances, creating an incentive to build communities of shared bandwidth.

Videos are made available via HTTP to download, but playback favors a peer-to-peer playback using HLS and WebTorrent. Users connected to the platform act as relay points that send pieces of video to other users, [8] lessening the bandwidth of each to the server and thus allowing smaller hardware to operate at a lower cost.

Origins and history

Sepia, PeerTube's mascot Sepia.svg
Sepia, PeerTube's mascot

PeerTube was created by a web developer known as Chocobozzz as a peer-to-peer alternative to YouTube, utilizing the WebTorrent protocol to share videos. [9] He was contacted in 2017 by Framasoft, which had a campaign called Contributopia, [10] the goal of which is to create alternatives to centralized platforms. In order to support him and his work, notably on improving the design and usability, Framasoft hired the developer.

In 2018, Framasoft launched a crowdfunding on KissKissBankBank which raised €53,100 — more than double the initial goal of €20,000. [11] [4]

The first beta of PeerTube was released in March 2018 [12] and the first stable version in October 2018. In June 2018, only a few months after the first beta, 113 instances [13] are publicly available on the web that together host more than 10,000 videos. [14] [15]

In June 2018, as a result of its videos disappearing amid changes regarding the monetization of YouTube channels, the Blender Foundation began experimenting with hosting a PeerTube instance to distribute copies of the foundation's videos. [16]

In May 2020, Framasoft published a roadmap of the software for the later half of the year and created a fundraising campaign requiring €60,000 for aiding the development. [17] Five months later (on October 2020), PeerTube announced that they reached their fundraising goal of €60,000 after a €10,000 donation from Debian. [18] [19] Throughout the later half of 2020, PeerTube has added features such as global search, improved playlists, and more moderation tools.

End 2020, the meta-search engine Sepia Search was launched by Framasoft, allowing a global search on all PeerTube instances at once. To-date (2021) Sepia Search totalises close to 800 individual instances.

In January 2021, Framasoft announced the release of PeerTube v3.0 with the help of the successful fundraising campaign. [20] The release highlighted peer-to-peer live streaming as the major feature of the release.

On April, the 28th of 2022, the European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS) launched the official ActivityPub video platform EU Video of the EU institutions, bodies and agencies (EUIs), based on PeerTube. [21]

Technology

Video introducing PeerTube

PeerTube uses WebTorrent technology. Each server hosts a torrent tracker and each web browser viewing a video also shares it. This allows to share the load between the server itself and the clients as well as the bandwidth used through P2P technology.

The system works via a federation of instances run by independent entities. Each PeerTube server can host any number of videos by itself, and can additionally federate with other servers to let users watch their videos in the same user interface. This federation permits collectively hosting a large number of videos in a unified platform, without having to build an infrastructure comparable to that of the web giants. Each server is operated by and stays under the sole administration of a distinct entity.

PeerTube uses the ActivityPub protocol in order to allow decentralization and compatibility with other fediverse services, which can prevent vendor lock-in and makes it more resilient against censorship. [16] [22]

The software relies on the PostgreSQL DBMS.

Unofficial PeerTube video playback integrations exist for popular platforms like Reddit [23] and Kodi. [24]

See also

Related Research Articles

Uploading refers to transmitting data from one computer system to another through means of a network. Common methods of uploading include: uploading via web browsers, FTP clients], and terminals (SCP/SFTP). Uploading can be used in the context of clients that send files to a central server. While uploading can also be defined in the context of sending files between distributed clients, such as with a peer-to-peer (P2P) file-sharing protocol like BitTorrent, the term file sharing is more often used in this case. Moving files within a computer system, as opposed to over a network, is called file copying.

BitTorrent, also referred to as simply torrent, is a communication protocol for peer-to-peer file sharing (P2P), which enables users to distribute data and electronic files over the Internet in a decentralized manner. The protocol is developed and maintained by Rainberry, Inc., and was first released in 2001. A 2004 study by Cachelogic found that one third of all internet traffic was BitTorrent traffic.

In computer networks, download means to receive data from a remote system, typically a server such as a web server, an FTP server, an email server, or other similar systems. This contrasts with uploading, where data is sent to a remote server.

A dark net or darknet is an overlay network within the Internet that can only be accessed with specific software, configurations, or authorization, and often uses a unique customized communication protocol. Two typical darknet types are social networks, and anonymity proxy networks such as Tor via an anonymized series of connections.

BitTorrent is a proprietary adware BitTorrent client developed by Bram Cohen and Rainberry, Inc. used for uploading and downloading files via the BitTorrent protocol. BitTorrent was the first client written for the protocol. It is often nicknamed Mainline by developers denoting its official origins. Since version 6.0 the BitTorrent client has been a rebranded version of μTorrent. As a result, it is no longer open source. It is currently available for Microsoft Windows, Mac, Linux, iOS and Android. There are currently two versions of the software, "BitTorrent Classic" which inherits the historical version numbering, and "BitTorrent Web", which uses its own version numbering.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tribler</span> Peer-to-peer filesharing software and protocol

Tribler is an open source decentralized BitTorrent client which allows anonymous peer-to-peer by default. Tribler is based on the BitTorrent protocol and uses an overlay network for content searching. Due to this overlay network, Tribler does not require an external website or indexing service to discover content. The user interface of Tribler is very basic and focused on ease of use instead of diversity of features. Tribler is available for Linux, Windows, and OS X.

In the BitTorrent file distribution system, a torrent file or meta-info file is a computer file that contains metadata about files and folders to be distributed, and usually also a list of the network locations of trackers, which are computers that help participants in the system find each other and form efficient distribution groups called swarms. Torrent files are normally named with the extension .torrent.

Distributed social network projects generally develop software, protocols, or both.

μTorrent Proprietary adware BitTorrent client

μTorrent, or uTorrent, is a proprietary adware BitTorrent client owned and developed by Rainberry, Inc. The "μ" in its name comes from the SI prefix "micro-", referring to the program's small memory footprint: the program was designed to use minimal computer resources while offering functionality comparable to larger BitTorrent clients such as Vuze or BitComet. μTorrent became controversial in 2015 when many users unknowingly accepted a default option during installation which also installed a cryptocurrency miner.

Mirror sites or mirrors are replicas of other websites. The concept of mirroring applies to network services accessible through any protocol, such as HTTP or FTP. Such sites have different URLs than the original site, but host identical or near-identical content. Mirror sites are often located in a different geographic region than the original, or upstream site. The purpose of mirrors is to reduce network traffic, improve access speed, ensure availability of the original site for technical or political reasons, or provide a real-time backup of the original site. Mirror sites are particularly important in developing countries, where internet access may be slower or less reliable.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">InterPlanetary File System</span> Content-addressable, peer-to-peer hypermedia distribution protocol

The InterPlanetary File System (IPFS) is a protocol, hypermedia and file sharing peer-to-peer network for storing and sharing data in a distributed file system. IPFS uses content-addressing to uniquely identify each file in a global namespace connecting IPFS hosts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">ZeroNet</span> Peer to peer web hosting

ZeroNet is a decentralized web-like network of peer-to-peer users, created by Tamas Kocsis in 2015, programming for the network was based in Budapest, Hungary; is built in Python; and is fully open source. Instead of having an IP address, sites are identified by a public key. The private key allows the owner of a site to sign and publish changes, which propagate through the network. Sites can be accessed through an ordinary web browser when using the ZeroNet application, which acts as a local webhost for such pages. In addition to using bitcoin cryptography, ZeroNet uses trackers from the BitTorrent network to negotiate connections between peers. ZeroNet is not anonymous by default, but it supports routing traffic through the Tor network.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Framasoft</span> French free software organisation

Framasoft is an education-oriented social network created in November 2001 by Alexis Kauffmann, Paul Lunetta, and Georges Silva. Since 2014, it has been supported by a nonprofit organization of the same name based in Lyon, France. Mainly focused on free software valorisation, it is divided into three main branches of activity based upon a collaborative model: promotion, dissemination, and development of free software, enrichment of the free culture movement, and online services.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">WebTorrent</span> Peer-to-peer web-based torrent client

WebTorrent is a peer-to-peer (P2P) streaming torrent client written in JavaScript, from the same author, Feross Aboukhadijeh, of YouTube Instant, and the team at WebTorrent and on GitHub, for use in web browsers, as well as a WebTorrent Desktop stand alone version able to bridge WebTorrent and BitTorrent serverless networks.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fediverse</span> Network of federated social media servers

The fediverse is an ensemble of social networks which can communicate with each other, while remaining independent platforms. Users on different social networks and websites can send and receive updates from others across the network.

BitChute is an alt-tech video hosting service launched by Ray Vahey in January 2017. It describes itself as offering freedom of speech, while the service is known for hosting far-right individuals, conspiracy theorists, and hate speech. Some creators who use BitChute have been banned from YouTube; some others crosspost content to both platforms or post more extreme content only to BitChute. Before its deprecation, BitChute claimed to use peer-to-peer WebTorrent technology for video distribution, though this was disputed.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pixelfed</span> Open source photo-sharing platform newcomer

Pixelfed is a free and open-source image sharing social network service. It is decentralized, therefore user data is not stored on a central server, unlike other platforms. Pixelfed uses the ActivityPub protocol which allows users to interact with other social networks within the protocol, such as Mastodon, PeerTube, and Friendica. Using this protocol makes Pixelfed a part of the Fediverse. The network is made up of several independent sites that communicate with one another, which is roughly comparable to e-mail providers. The parties involved do not all have to be registered with the same provider, but can still communicate with each other. Thus, users are able to sign up on any server and follow others on the other instances.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sepia Search</span> Search engine for PeerTube videos

Sepia Search is a video search engine for PeerTube. It is developed by the French association Framasoft.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mobilizon</span> Open source meeting software

Mobilizon is an open source software for event planning and group management, launched in October 2020 by Framasoft to offer a free alternative to the platforms of GAFAM. Mobilizon gained much visibility in hacker circles relatively fast, but also soon within cultural scene in Europe and more recently in the mainstream IT media.

References

  1. ↑ "Release 6.0.3". 18 January 2024. Retrieved 19 January 2024.
  2. ↑ "Framasoft's Weblate PeerTube Project". weblate.framasoft.org. Archived from the original on 2021-01-22. Retrieved 2021-02-07.
  3. ↑ "Federated (ActivityPub) video streaming platform using P2P (BitTorrent) directly in the web browser with WebTorrent and Angular.: Chocobozzz/PeerTube". June 30, 2019. Archived from the original on January 7, 2021. Retrieved June 19, 2018– via GitHub.
  4. 1 2 Framasoft, Association (2018-10-15). "PeerTube 1.0: the free/libre and federated video platform". Framablog. Archived from the original on 2018-10-17. Retrieved 2019-05-23.
  5. ↑ Kwet, Michael. "To fix social media, we need to introduce digital socialism". www.aljazeera.com. Archived from the original on 2022-04-07. Retrieved 2022-04-28.
  6. ↑ Noisette, Thierry (2018-07-23). "PeerTube : l'hébergement libre de vidéos est sur les rails". ZDNet France (in French). Archived from the original on 2019-05-31. Retrieved 2019-06-25.
  7. ↑ Lion, Bastien (2018-07-09). "PeerTube, le « YouTube décentralisé », réussit son financement participatif". Le Monde (in French). Archived from the original on 2021-03-06. Retrieved 2019-06-25.
  8. ↑ Verge, Pauline (2018-03-30). "PeerTube, une tentative d'alternative française et décentralisée à YouTube". Le Figaro (in French). Archived from the original on 2018-03-30. Retrieved 2019-06-25.
  9. ↑ "PeerTube, une tentative d'alternative française et décentralisée à YouTube". FIGARO. March 30, 2018. Archived from the original on March 30, 2018. Retrieved June 21, 2018.
  10. ↑ Framasoft, Association (October 9, 2017). "Contributopia : dégoogliser ne suffit pas". Framablog. Archived from the original on July 9, 2018. Retrieved June 20, 2018.
  11. ↑ KissKissBankBank. "PeerTube, a free and federated video platform". KissKissBankBank. Archived from the original on 2018-06-24. Retrieved 2019-05-23.
  12. ↑ "PeerTube : le « YouTube décentralisé » passe en bêta publique". www.nextinpact.com. March 27, 2018. Archived from the original on June 21, 2018. Retrieved June 21, 2018.
  13. ↑ "Après YouTube… PeerTube ? Déjà des centaines d'instances !". www.linformaticien.com. Archived from the original on 2018-06-21. Retrieved 2018-06-21.
  14. ↑ "PeerTube instances". instances.joinpeertube.org. Archived from the original on 2018-05-28. Retrieved 2019-05-23.
  15. ↑ "PeerTube(LIVE)". peertube.live. Archived from the original on 2019-03-29. Retrieved 2019-05-23.
  16. 1 2 Foundation, Blender. "YouTube Blocks Blender Videos Worldwide". blender.org. Archived from the original on 2018-06-24. Retrieved 2018-06-21.
  17. ↑ "Our plans for PeerTube v3 : progressive fundraising, live streaming coming next fall". Framablog. 26 May 2020. Archived from the original on 2021-01-10. Retrieved 2021-01-10.
  18. ↑ "PeerTube (@peertube@framapiaf.org)". Framapiaf (in French). Archived from the original on 2020-10-26. Retrieved 2020-10-24.
  19. ↑ "Debian donation for PeerTube development - Bits from the Debian Project". Debian Project. October 21, 2020. Archived from the original on 2020-10-27. Retrieved 2020-10-31.
  20. ↑ "PeerTube v3: it's a live, a liiiiive!". Framablog. 7 January 2021. Archived from the original on 2021-01-10. Retrieved 2021-01-10.
  21. ↑ EDPS launches pilot phase of two social media platforms Archived 2022-05-22 at the Wayback Machine (press release).
  22. ↑ "PeerTube: A 'Censorship' Resistent(sic) YouTube Alternative". TorrentFreak. 2018-06-23. Archived from the original on 2018-07-04. Retrieved 2019-05-23.
  23. ↑ "Add peertube by aliceinwire · Pull Request #5065 · honestbleeps/Reddit-Enhancement-Suite". GitHub. Archived from the original on 2020-11-12. Retrieved 2019-05-23.
  24. ↑ "Cyrille Bollu / plugin.video.peertube". GitLab. Archived from the original on 2019-10-04. Retrieved 2019-05-23.
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