RTSP Webcam to HLS Live Streaming using FFMPEG and XAMPP | PART 1

A "quick" 30 minute real time walkthrough in how to set up an RTSP to HLS live streaming setup using FFMPEG and XAMPP on a local network using Windows 10. The files referred to in the video are attached and pasted below in the description ( press see more).
PART2 Will cover the additional options in ffmpeg and introduce how to link an external domain to the webserver we have set up using port forwarding.
PART 2 HERE ... • PART 2 | Webserver usi...
The camera used is a DLink 2132 IP Camera.
Once set up, then a public ip can be port forwarded to the server machine to allow for public viewing.
html code .. video.htm
pastebin.com/c...
ffmpeg code (change as needed to suit your setup):
ffmpeg -v verbose -i rtsp://admin:@192.168.1.30/live1.sdp -vf scale=1920:1080 -vcodec libx264 -r 25 -b:v 1000000 -crf 31 -acodec aac -sc_threshold 0 -f hls -hls_time 5 -segment_time 5 -hls_list_size 5 C:\webpages\video\stream.m3u8
To automatically restart the ffmpeg instruction in the batch file if it fails (if the camera disconnects) then add the following command before and after the ffmpeg instruction. This will then restart ffmpeg every time it may fail.
####### WEBCAM.BAT ########
@echo off
:start
del *.ts
FFMPEG INSTRUCTION ABOVE GOES HERE!
goto start
END OF WEBCAM.BAT FILE ###
Hope it helps, that should give a pretty reliable restarting ffmpeg stream.
Streaming an IP Camera to a Web Browser using FFmpeg

[@isaacu]

FANTASTIC!! Now, how does one "push" a stream from something like OBS??

[@raulcesar54]

hello brother, thanks you so much!!! but i hava a error, Could not find codec parameters for stream 0 (Video: h264, none): unspecified size Consider increasing the value for the 'analyzeduration' (0) and 'probesize' (5000000) options, your can help me?

[@jorgemoscoso6495]

Hello, Andy. Thank you very much for this video. It was very helpful for me. However, I have a question. Is there any way to capture(take a snapshot) at any time during transmission. I ask you this, because I need to save a picture in an aplication developed under PHP. If there is an option to do this, please could you tell me how to implement that in javascript. I´ll be very grateful if you can help me with this. Hope to hear from you very soon.

[@pompom2631]

i am using window 10 , and install xampp , my question is --> i have my ip camera on the front of my apartment that i already made port forwarding on the router ,with public static ip address , when i stay in my house , i can see the video of ip camera of my apartment via * VLC player * when i put rtsp url with the public static ip address of my apartment 's ip camera , however when i have tried to use the command of ffmpeg with the rtsp url with the public static ip address of the router of my apartment in order to create the m3u8 file from my ip camera, the ffmpeg command does not generate the m3u8 file , it causes frozen on the terminal , however when i go back to my apartment , and connect my computer to the same router that connect to ip camera , i can create the m3u8 file successfully with running ffmpeg command with local ip address and i can stream the video successfully as you have done , so my question is --> how i can create the m3u8 file with running the ffmpeg command with my public static ip of my apartment when i am in my house ?

[@lucassaller9361]

Hello, i am trying to install ffmpeg to xamp to test a plugin that needs it, but i cant, do u have any suggestion or idea of how to install it? Thanks! great video

[@sihaglakhan]

i have tried this but it's giving the error could not find codec parameters for stream 0 (Video : h264, 1 reference frame, none): unspecified size consider increasing the value for the 'analyzeduration ' (0) and 'probesize' (5000000) options please reply as fast as can need in emergence

[@SolomonJ306]

Contact me 🐝

[@doitek]

I paused the video to thank you for making step by step video on this topic, Heads off to you" Thank You so much.

[@tuangretongan6620]

Thanks sir, Your video Very helpful to me. I hope you always make videos❤

[@pompom2631]

For example , ie.--> i have one ip camera in front of my apartment in Kuala Lumpur , and i have the other one of ip camera in the house in Bangkok , i am in Bangkok , i follow your video tutorial and i successfully watch and stream of the Bangkok ip camera , but i also want to stream the Kuala Lumpur ip camera RTSP too, so the first step following your video tutorial , i need to run the ffmpeg command to create the index.m3u8 and .ts files , and i have the public ip address , RTSP of my ip camera in Kuala Lumpur , ** but when i am in Bangkok and i start running the ffmpeg command from RTSP of Kuala Lumpur apartment 's ip camera , the ffmpeg could run but it stop , and it does not generate the index.m3u8 and .ts files from RTSP that send from Kuala Lumpur ip camera , however when i am in Bangkok and i test running the RTSP url from the Kuala Lumpur ip camera in vlc player , i successfully could watch the streaming video , So regarding to your video tutorial. , --> how can i stream the RTSP from ip camera that come from or send from other place or other state / country ? or how to run the ffmpeg command that has RTSP that come from other state / country ?

[@Olijuseju]

I get this error Acess to XMLHttpRequest at 'file:///C:/xampp/htdocs/web_amd/videos/stream.m3u8' from origin 'null' has been blocked by CORS policy: Cross origin requests are only supported for protocol schemes: http, data, isolated-app, chrome-extension, chrome, https, chrome-untrusted. Anyone can help??

[@CONGOMONPAYSTV]

Did you solve it ?

[@aniljugmahan1573]

Thank you for this informative guide....your video has helped me achieve something that i have been trying to get working for over 2 weeks now.

[@durhamvideomarketing8304]

Damn Fine Job! I didnt think Iwould be able to do this. NowI'm going to save over $50 per month in streaming fees. Thank you!

[@joelcherian1169]

Hey Andi , Nice video. I have a Dahua Camera . The rtsp link works inisde the VLC edia player and i can view it. But when i put the same link inside ffplay it gives me a 404 error.

[@itsAndyFordham]

What commands are you using ?, reply below

[@joelcherian1169]

@@itsAndyFordham ffplay -i rtsp://admin:admin1234@192.168.2.252:554/cam/realmonitor?channel=1&subtype=0 . The rstp link works fine inside the VLC media player.

[@oscarperez9048]

Hi Joel, just the same problem here. Try with this: ffplay -i "rtsp://admin:admin1234@192.168.2.252:554/cam/realmonitor?channel=1&subtype=0"

[@CONGOMONPAYSTV]

Again thanks ❤ Can you make the same tutorial but instead of webcam or camera CCTV, can you make it with vMix live streaming with the same process please please please ❤

[@JarenceParilla]

It can be accessed via phone even if you're far away?

[@danielszimko2317]

Hi! The del *.ts is not working for me in the bat file. Is there any other way to delete the files after 10 sec?

[@itsAndyFordham]

If you look at the updated script in the description, the command will automatically remove the oldest ts files after newer ones added. Saves space. -hls_list_size

[@danielszimko2317]

@@itsAndyFordham Thank you for your answer! You helped me a lot dude.

[@abdurrehmananwarqureshi8390]

Everything works for me but I am not able to delete used ts files.

[@abdurrehmananwarqureshi8390]

I used -hls_flags delete_segments after -hls_list_size 5 and it works for me.

[@rohkumar]

Hi Andy , Thanks for your tutorial I was able to follow it and made it work for rtmp streaming. Now I have requirement to save the video for two hours in the morning and two hours in the afternoon and user can play back the old footage how can we do that? the video player that you have used from UNPKG does it comes with timer to view the old footage?

[@itsAndyFordham]

with a bit more coding you can archive the files that are created and create a replay system. just dont delete the files.

[@dhxbcmd]

All settings are normal. But it doesn't play on my Chrome. Can someone help me?

[@cjlowe1650]

Great video(s). Just wondering how do you get the sound from RTSP setup? Do you just add a mic (USB Microphone) to the Pi? Thanks!

[@itsAndyFordham]

My webcam "dlink" has a mic in the camera, however if you want to use a mic on an rpi, you can use anusb microphone and just make sure that is is turned on in alsa audio mixer, or a i2s microphone with a driver that puts it onto the alsa mixer

[@alvinengyc]

Thanks Andy for such a great video, really appreciate!!

[@togettordownget3978]

Hi there - I have a usb webcam and I want to stream it using rtsp protocol - to use it with NVR software. The problem is because it is not an IP camera - its just a usb webcam - usb connected - I can't figure out how to get it working using rtsp stream ???? Can you please help or make video on this topic ???

[@tomjazzy]

Hi Andy, I tried this with my HikVision DVR and it worked great. However, can you help me if I want users to view the camera LIVE. I want them to capture the video LIVE from the current instead of opening past recording? Another question, Is it the only way to save .ts files? Can't ffmpeg just conver rstp to http without saving it to drive?

[@itsAndyFordham]

Hi yes the hls option gives a 30ish second delay which is for high latency web delivery fine for most near live broadcasts, but if you want ultra low latency then there are other options, there is another option to transcode rtsp into rtmp which can go into a local red5 server on the same machine, this would bring the latency down to less than 3 seconds, I may cover this in another video. I use the rtmp red5 version in the cameras I use for TDF. Very low latency and gives option for multiple viewers. Let me know if you want a low latency video tutorial. Merry Christmas!

[@tomjazzy]

@@itsAndyFordham thanks, please if you can upload the tutorial for this. I am working on a project where I have to show the CCTV camera live on Webpage so teacher giving instructions to viewers. The latency (lag) cannot be afford in my scenario.

[@lewtien2597]

Great video 👍😊 , my ip camera has a built-in microphone. so when i deploy the ffmpeg command , there will be the video and audio stream both things to convert to m3u8 file and there is audio sound on the browser when display to the client , how do i can remove the audio from ffmpeg command ?

[@itsAndyFordham]

you can use the flag -an in the command line whch means no audio

[@lewtien2597]

​@@itsAndyFordham​ great 👍😊 , thanks for your quick and right answer , I already removed the audio

[@ZancH88]

Hi, if you would run this script for a long time one should reach Windows file name length limit. Can you specify the file name so that it would circle for example: name1.ts, name2.ts name3.ts name4.ts name5.ts .... and then to start form 1 again?

[@CONGOMONPAYSTV]

The best video nice tutorial and nice explained step by step Goog job

[@nocteryals]

Good morning Andy, how much delay do you have? Thank you

[@itsAndyFordham]

about 10 secsonds, it depends, but if it slows up i just reboot the system :)

[@michagregorczyk8942]

How can I reduce the size of the player in the browser? Becouse this player is very big. I would like smaller player.

[@monoxgg]

Awesome video. Watched both parts. I was able to set up a HLS livestream with Apache. Before following this video, I had another livestream with VLC. It worked well for Chrome and Chromium (CEF) on PC with 10s latency. But couldn't get it to work for any browser in Android. Decided to try HLS with FFmpeg as shown in this video and now it works both on PC and Android browsers which is great. The latency is still high by default. I play with the values to have short frames and speed up... but the http requests will increase nonetheless. Further reading showed me that HLS is not used for low latency applications. So, are you aware of other livestreaming options with low latency? One suitable for browsers. My camera is RTSP but I can't directly open that protocol in the browser.

[@itsAndyFordham]

Hi thanks for the comments. The lowest latency would be webRTC in a browser less than 200ms delay using a socket based server, I am going to do a demo for webRTC in an upcoming video if you are interested.

[@monoxgg]

@@itsAndyFordham Yes, I'm very much interested. Right now I'm researching about webRTC and how to set it up for Apache server, so that multiple people can all watch the same stream with 200ms latency (which is incredibly good). Thank you very much.

[@shoazizbakhtiyorov2895]

I have question. In this video you are chunking video in ngnix. How to chunk video in python code for fully manage files?

[@dryisotope]

Hi, I can't seem to get the live indicator in the video player . I deleted the files just like you did and I am still getting the normal controls slider.

[@bozallen]

Hi Andy. Cool video. I didn't know FFMPEG had HLS capabilities so will give this a go! I think your D-Link camera might already be generating an H.264 encoded stream, so you'll possibly be able to copy the original video stream without re-encoding it with "-vcodec copy". It'll save some CPU cycles on your PC!

[@itsAndyFordham]

Thanks, yes certainly can, if you use '-c copy' it will copy both the audio and video streams and pass to the output without transcoding. in this instance I adjusted the bitrate to a known rate rather than the camera generated rate and adjusted the codec to suit the hls, as the hls transcoder can be a little bit picky on what comes out of the camera. When I originally used the -vcodec copy and -acodec copy during my first tests, hls complained a lot., fixing the codec and audio codec seemed to fix it.

[@fotografm]

Thank you for the clear instructions. Will you make the low latency version soon ? Also I would prefer to do everything on Linux rather than Windows. Do you also have experience of this ?

[@itsAndyFordham]

Hi Simon, ffmpeg is available for linux also, the command set should be the same. www.ffmpeg.org, low latency can be difficult with HLS , best use rtp for low latency however not great with multiple clients over a public network., HLS can be slimmed down with effort to use less ts files.

[@esteemspirit]

Thank you so much Andy for this great tutorial !

[@lewtien2597]

I am trying a bit further , i locally set up 2 ip cameras ( in the same network ) , and i created 2 folders to store the m3u8 or ts file that were generated from 2 ffmpeg commands . So i already got the m3u8 / ts files from each ip camera, then i created two files of video.html as you did in this video ie. -->(video.html and video1.html ) all under the xampp when i open video.html , i successfully could watch the video from first camera on videojs player , however in video1.html ,the video from the other ip camera never display on the videojs player but it has been stored as m3u8 / ts files under the second folder , however when i created only 1 folder and set up the other ip camera and store the m3u8/ ts file to only one folder as i did with first ip camera , in order to test each ip camera , i successfully could watch the streaming video from each ip camera (include ip second camera ) , (that meant 2 of my each ip camera work properly and work well even on vlc player , but i guess , my problem should be messing the port in xampp. because i could run ffmpeg command per each ip camera and successfully to generate m3u8 / ts file and store to each folder , but i can not watch 2 ip camera simultaneously on browser under xampp server , So how can i watch 2 or more ip camera simultaneously ?

[@rafetferitkazan6581]

use an another html page and call them in two .. i hope it helps

[@gogolunch]

Hi, Andy. Do you think it also works for the VR video stream too?

[@itsAndyFordham]

Hi, I recently tested a Ricoh Theta S connected to OBS via the usb UVC Blended option(full 360 globe as a 16:9 live video), OBS then output to XAMPP via HLS output and we had live video, so yes it does, a better camera would give faster framerate as the internal blending is a little slow over usb. Would also need a VR 360 metadata to force a player to play the 360 content as VR, Looking at putting the basics in a new video if you are interested.

[@MDROKON-vz9gj]

can you setup cantus7??

[@tacuac1]

How to make file stream1, stream2... files longer than 10s.Thanks

[@_BlackBaron_]

Great guide! Thanks for sharing it, I would be very interested in using it all the time, how can I delete old files?

[@wasswaspeed]

I know its 2 years after, but youre amazing, thanks a lot andy sir

[@doveshouse]

Phenomenal tutorial / overview! I wonder if there is a solution where the conversion is done on the client side? You could have a thousand users access an rtsp feed using VLC with very little impact to the server. It appears that this solution puts the heavy lifting on the server as opposed to the client in terms of transcoding? I wonder if there is a way to shift the burden to the client?

[@itsAndyFordham]

yes, its possible to convert rtsp from ffmpeg to an rtmp stream and then send the stream to a Red5 or equivalent server either cloud based or local based.

[@MatthewMbugua]

can i do the same RTSP stream from google nest camera

[@yaminijain1720]

Thank you so much Andy for this video. I am able to get my webcam video on webpage easily now. But I ran into a slight problem: the webcam.bat file stopped capturing frames when my camera was reconnected with it. To capture video again I had to restart the webcam file. Is there any other way to start capturing the frames automatically again?

[@itsAndyFordham]

I suppose it would be possible to detect a failed stream using the -autoexit command in ffmpeg and then for the ffmpeg to restart itself, maybe in a loop. It may be something that I visit in a future uvideo update, there are some more in the pipeline :)

[@yaminijain1720]

@@itsAndyFordham It's my first time using ffmpeg so I don't know how and where to use this -autoexit command. Also, will it be a feasible solution if the camera's power is switching off frequently due to power cut.

[@thejword]

When I run the command it does NOT output the ts files and the m3u8 file until i close the command. As soon as I do a CTRL - C to stop the command... then instantly all the ts files and the m3u8 show up in the directory. Any tips on how I can fix this? Thanks!

[@itsAndyFordham]

What version of ffmpeg and what os are you running ?

[@thejword]

@@itsAndyFordham latest versions of ubuntu and ffmpeg. just installed them on a new vps. Thanks for the reply.

[@jjulio1111]

Can a .ts be a flash inside?

[@saengthong8945]

Thank you so much! Great guide!

[@vasu767]

how to autoplay this video in browser

[@panagiotisgiannelos3767]

How much delay from live in the webstream??? thanks for the video!!!

[@daddyparodz]

for me is about a minute...

[@DanielPerez-ls3tr]

Love it! Thank you so much for this!

[@ayushmanpandey8101]

Hello there can you help me with the exceptions and error that i am facing while running ffplay command as i can dtream rtsp through vlc but cant stream it using ffplay command

[@itsAndyFordham]

What command are you running.., also what version of code are you running, there are many different compilations, I recommend the download from ffmpeg website and use latest version,

[@ayushmanpandey8101]

@@itsAndyFordham i have been using command ffplay -i rtsp://admin:1234@103.226.169.145:554/ipcam.sdp this command that you used in the tutorial to stream the ipcam and i am getting the error as ( UDP timeout, retrying with TCP 0B f=0/0 [rtsp @ 0000019fad91c8c0] method PAUSE failed: 501 Not Implemented [rtsp @ 0000019fad91c8c0] Could not find codec parameters for stream 0 (Video: mpeg4 (Simple Profile), none, 640x480 [SAR 1:1 DAR 4:3]): unspecified pixel format Consider increasing the value for the 'analyzeduration' and 'probesize' options)

[@ayushmanpandey8101]

@@itsAndyFordham did you find anything helpful? or how to solve this error? thanks!

[@itsAndyFordham]

@@ayushmanpandey8101 what's the make and model of the camera ?

[@sergeyabramov6606]

Зашифровать этот трафик можно?

[@eeFidan1ks]

can i do same thing but to use webcam of my PC not camera surwillance . help me please

[@itsAndyFordham]

Yes you can, you can use OBS with a webcam to create an HLS stream directly to a xaamp folder, I will cover on my next video ...

[@eeFidan1ks]

@@itsAndyFordham wow :( i dont know how to do that can u make a short video to explain me how to do that pleasee .. thank you so much

[@eeFidan1ks]

@@itsAndyFordham can tell me witch xaamp folder to put hsl stream ? pleaseee thank you

[@itsAndyFordham]

@@eeFidan1ks Hi, If you watch the video, follow the instructions and put the hls stream into the folder instead of running ffmpeg. You still need to modify the apache files as described in the video.

[@jjulio1111]

Is there a way we can get a lower latency?

[@itsAndyFordham]

HLS isn't that great for low latency, keeping the video segments to a low count can help . Flash used to be better using rtmp but is no longer available. Maybe in the future .. ?

[@jjulio1111]

@@itsAndyFordham It Still works in Windows 7

[@jjulio1111]

@@itsAndyFordham You mean the -segment_time?

[@jjulio1111]

@@itsAndyFordham I need your help. Everything was working fine, until I found that I needed to do a certificated site. I did. I can open my site/page, but the video screen Just keep Rolling, and Rolling and nothing appears.

[@itsAndyFordham]

@@jjulio1111 You may need to add the video player onto the site that is hosting the stream to get away from cross domain problems, I have not tried certified sites, it may be that you need to add an SSL certificate to apache

[@jurekgdy]

Hi! What exactly have you changed to achieve LIVE streaming ? I did step by step as you, when i execute webcam.bat i wait some time and no files appear (also no view in browser). Only when i close webcam.bat some stream files appear (more time i wait, more files is in the folder). After this i can play files in browser. What i need to do to get LIVE streaming?

[@balazsandras2358]

Hi! I have exactly the same problem. In Windows 10 the bat file runs, but does not write any files until I kill it with CTRL-C. Then dozens of ts files appear, all with the same creation timestamp, which equals to the finishing of the batch file. In Linux (Ubuntu 20.04) the script quits after a while with a "too many packets buffered" error message. In this case no output files are generated. If I do not wait until the error comes and quit the script, it dumps the ts files just like in Windows. Have you managed to get closer to a solution?

[@jurekgdy]

@@balazsandras2358 Unfortunatelly no, I hope for an answer ...

[@阿佑-q2m]

​@@jurekgdy i get the same problem :( I though that I can set some timer to kill the process and do the same PS script in loops. But, i don't think it is the best solution.......