owncast README

The project's README from github.com/owncast/owncast. As one markdown file: README.md.

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Take control over your content and stream it yourself.


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Table of Contents

About The Project

Owncast is an open source, self-hosted, decentralized, single user live video streaming and chat server for running your own live streams similar in style to the large mainstream options. It offers complete ownership over your content, interface, moderation and audience. Visit the demo for an example.

GitHub all releases Docker Pulls GitHub issues by-label Open Collective backers and sponsors

Getting Started

The goal is to have a single service that you can run and it works out of the box. Visit the Quickstart to get up and running.

Use with your existing broadcasting software

In general, Owncast is compatible with any software that uses RTMP to broadcast to a remote server. RTMP is what all the major live streaming services use, so if you’re currently using one of those it’s likely that you can point your existing software at your Owncast instance instead.

OBS, Streamlabs, Restream and many others have been used with Owncast. Read more about compatibility with existing software.

Building from Source

Owncast consists of two projects.

  1. The Owncast backend is written in Go.
  2. The frontend is written in React.

Read more about running from source.

Important note about source code and the develop branch

The develop branch is always the most up-to-date state of development and this may not be what you always want. If you want to run the latest released stable version, check out the tag related to that release. For example, if you'd only like the source prior to the v0.1.0 development cycle you can check out the v0.0.13 tag.

Note: Currently Owncast does not natively support Windows servers. However, Windows Users can use Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL2) to install Owncast. For details visit this document.

Backend

The Owncast backend is a service written in Go.

  1. Ensure you have prerequisites installed.
  2. Install the Go toolchain (1.24 or above).
  3. Clone the repo. git clone https://github.com/owncast/owncast
  4. go run main.go will run from the source.
  5. Visit http://yourserver:8080 to access the web interface or http://yourserver:8080/admin to access the admin.
  6. Point your broadcasting software at your new server and start streaming.

Frontend

The frontend is the web interface that includes the player, chat, embed components, and other UI.

  1. This project lives in the web directory.
  2. Run npm install to install the Javascript dependencies.
  3. Run npm run dev

Contributing

Owncast is a growing open source project that is giving freedom, flexibility and fun to live streamers. And while we have a small team of kind, talented and thoughtful volunteers, we have gaps in our skillset that we’d love to fill so we can get even better at building tools that make a difference for people.

We abide by our Code of Conduct and feel strongly about open, appreciative, and empathetic people joining us. We’ve been very lucky to have this so far, so maybe you can help us with your skills and passion, too!

If you're new to the project, maybe you'd be interested in looking at Good First Issue.

There is a larger, more detailed, and more up-to-date guide for helping contribute to Owncast on our website.

Donors

The Owncast project is possible thanks to the people who make a donation to support us and our work. Thank you to all our donors who help keep Owncast running by donating on OpenCollective. You can support this project by becoming a backer/sponsor.

GitHub issues by-label

Security

Report suspected security vulnerabilities privately to [email protected]. This is the security-reporting address. The personal contact information in the Support section is for general contact, not vulnerability reports.

See the repository security policy for scope, disclosure, and credit details.

License

Distributed under the MIT License. See LICENSE for more information.

Support

Contact

Project chat: Join us on Rocket.Chat if you want to contribute, follow along, or if you have questions.

Gabe Kangas - @[email protected] - email [email protected]

Project Link: https://github.com/owncast/owncast

owncast (owncast/owncast)

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11.6K ·GitHub
Owncast
What is this?Owncast is an open source, self-hosted, decentralized, single-user live video streaming and chat server you run yourself instead of relying on mainstream streaming platforms.
Is this a hosted streaming platform or software I run myself?It is self-hosted software: you run the Owncast server (a Go backend plus a React web frontend with built-in chat) on your own machine or server rather than signing up for a managed platform.
How do I get it running and start streaming to it?Run the pre-built Docker image or build from source: clone the repo, run 'go run main.go' to start the backend (web UI and admin panel are served automatically), then point any RTMP broadcasting software like OBS, Streamlabs or Restream at your instance.
Does it run natively on Windows servers?No, Owncast does not natively support running as a Windows server; Windows users need to use WSL2 to install and run it.
Is Owncast free to use since it's self-hosted?Yes, Owncast is distributed under the MIT License, so it's free and open source to run, modify and self-host.
What makes Owncast different from just using Twitch or YouTube Live?Owncast gives you complete ownership over your content, interface, moderation and audience instead of handing that control to a third-party platform.
Is chat included out of the box?Yes, Owncast ships with streaming and chat together out of the box, so you don't need a separate chat service.
Can viewers on other platforms interact with my Owncast stream?Owncast is built with decentralization and federation in mind (it's tagged with ActivityPub and Fediverse support), so notifications about your stream can potentially reach federated apps like Mastodon.
What are similar projects?livego, PeerTube, srs, misskey, iptv-api, lemmy, nginx-rtmp-module, mastodon
Which topics is it in?activitypub, live, streaming-video, federation, rtmp, livestream, hls, live-streaming, video-streaming, decentralized, chat, golang
Creator
owncast
Size
1 GB
Stars
11.6K
Updated
CommitOct 17Releasev0.3.0Sep 03
Age
6y
Commits · 90 Days