Live Stream Source

Play live streams (RTMP, FLV, SRT, HLS, IVS, WHEP) directly in OBS Studio. Built for low latency and stability, it's a solid choice for restreaming IRL sessions or complex setups.

⚠️ Please read Disclaimer and AI Disclosure first.

If you like my work, you can support me by buying a coffee!

Features

• Protocol Flexibility — Support for RTMP, RTMPS, SRT, HLS, IVS (LL-HLS), and WHEP.
• Hardware Acceleration — Efficient decoding with NVDEC, QSV, DXVA2, and VideoToolbox.
• Low Latency — Tuned for minimum delay and smooth audio/video syncing.
• Built-in Reliability — Configurable auto-reconnect for unstable connections.
• Real-time Metrics — Monitor bitrate, FPS, latency, and uptime on the fly.
• Smart Fallbacks — Switch to another source or overlay when the stream drops or buffers.
• Multiple Dashboards — View stats via a built-in window, a browser overlay, or a custom WebSocket feed.

Supported Protocols

Type	Protocols	Notes
Standard	RTMP, RTMPS, SRT, RTSP	Via FFmpeg demuxer
Amazon IVS	LL-HLS	Custom low-latency HLS client
HLS	Standard HLS	Via FFmpeg
WHEP	WebRTC	Via libdatachannel, supports video+audio/video-only/audio-only

Installation

Download the latest release for your platform from Releases.

Windows

Installer (Recommended):

1. Get the latest live-stream-source-*-windows-installer.exe.
2. Run it and you're done.

Manual Setup:

1. Download live-stream-source-*-windows-x64.zip.
2. Unzip it to your OBS folder (typically C:\Program Files\obs-studio\).
3. Restart OBS Studio.

macOS

Installer (PKG):

1. Download live-stream-source-*-macos-installer.zip.
2. Run the .pkg file.
3. Restart OBS.

Heads up: The package is unsigned. If macOS blocks it, just head to System Settings → Privacy & Security and hit Open Anyway.

Manual Setup:

1. Grab live-stream-source-*-macos-universal.zip.
2. Drop the live-stream-source.plugin folder into:

   ~/Library/Application Support/obs-studio/plugins/
   

3. Restart OBS.

Linux

1. Download live-stream-source-*-x86_64-linux-gnu.zip.
2. Extract the ZIP file to ~/.config/obs-studio/plugins/.
3. Restart OBS Studio

Note: If OBS Studio is installed as a Flatpak or Snap package, the plugin path may be different.

# Flatpak
~/.var/app/org.obsproject.Studio/config/obs-studio/plugins/

# Snap
~/snap/obs-studio/current/.config/obs-studio/plugins/

Usage

1. Add a new Live Stream Source in OBS
2. Enter the stream URL
3. Select the stream type
   • Standard: RTMP, RTMPS, SRT, RTSP
   • Amazon IVS: LL-HLS
   • HLS: Standard HLS
   • WHEP: WebRTC
4. Configure optional settings as needed

Source Settings

Setting	Description
Stream URL	The URL to the live stream
Stream Type	Standard, Amazon IVS, HLS, or WHEP
Hardware Acceleration	Enable GPU decoding
Low Bitrate Threshold	Bitrate (kbps) below which the low-bitrate source is shown
Low Bitrate Overlay Source	Source to show when bitrate drops below threshold
Disconnect Fallback Source	Source to show when the stream disconnects
Loading Overlay Source	Source to show during initial connection
WHEP Bearer Token	Authentication token for WHEP endpoints

Buttons

Button	Action
Refresh	Reconnect to the stream
Open Statistics Dashboard	Opens the HTML stats dashboard in a browser
Show Statistics Window	Opens the built-in Qt stats window
Add Stats Overlay	Adds a browser source overlay to the current scene

WebSocket Stats Server

The plugin runs a WebSocket server (default port 4477) that broadcasts JSON stats for all active sources. Configure the port and network interface from Tools → Live Stream Source Dashboard → Settings.

JSON Format

{
  "sources": {
    "Source Name": {
      "connected": true,
      "kbps": 4500,
      "fps": 30.0,
      "width": 1920,
      "height": 1080,
      "latency_ms": 120,
      "stream_delay_ms": 1800,
      "dropped_frames": 0,
      "hw_accel": true,
      "uptime_seconds": 3600
    }
  }
}

Building from Source

Requirements

• CMake 3.16+
• C++17 compiler
• OBS Studio source/SDK
• FFmpeg development libraries FFMPEG-Builds
• Qt6 (Widgets, Core, Network)
• libdatachannel (fetched automatically for WHEP support)

Build (Windows)

cmake -B build -DOBS_SOURCE_DIR="path/to/obs-studio" -DOBS_BIN_DIR="path/to/obs-studio/bin/64bit" -DFFMPEG_DIR="path/to/ffmpeg"
cmake --build build --config Release

CMake Options

Option	Default	Description
ENABLE_WHEP	ON	Enable WHEP (WebRTC) receiver support
OBS_SOURCE_DIR	—	Path to OBS Studio source tree
OBS_BIN_DIR	—	Path to OBS binary directory
FFMPEG_DIR	—	Path to FFmpeg dev build

Project Structure

src/
├── live-stream-source.cpp/h   # Main source plugin
├── stream-demuxer.cpp/h       # FFmpeg stream demuxing
├── video-decoder.cpp/h        # Video decoding (SW/HW)
├── audio-decoder.cpp/h        # Audio decoding
├── whep-client.cpp/h          # WHEP WebRTC client
├── whep-signaling.cpp/h       # WHEP signaling
├── ll-hls-client.cpp/h        # Amazon IVS LL-HLS client
├── ll-hls-parser.cpp/h        # HLS playlist parser
├── ll-hls-fetcher.cpp/h       # HLS segment fetcher
├── bitrate-monitor.cpp/h      # Bitrate tracking
├── catchup-controller.cpp/h   # A/V sync catch-up
├── frame-queue.cpp/h          # Thread-safe frame queue
├── overlay-renderer.cpp/h     # On-source text overlay
├── reconnect-manager.cpp/h    # Auto-reconnect logic
├── ws-stats-server.cpp/h      # WebSocket stats server
├── plugin-settings.cpp/h      # Settings UI (Qt)
├── stats-window.cpp/h         # Stats window (Qt)
├── plugin-main.cpp/h          # Plugin entry point
└── common.h                   # Shared constants & types

Disclaimer

This is an independent, third-party plugin. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or officially connected to OBS Studio, the OBS Project, Streamlabs, Amazon (IVS), or any other streaming platform. All product names and trademarks mentioned belong to their respective owners and are used purely for identification and compatibility.

The plugin simply connects to publicly available streaming protocols (RTMP, HLS, SRT, WHEP, etc.) using standard methods. It does not modify, reverse-engineer, or interfere with the internal workings of OBS Studio or any backend streaming service. Use of this tool is entirely at your own risk.

AI Disclosure

To remain fully transparent and comply with the OBS Forum Resource and IP Policy, I'd like to clarify how this plugin was created.

The initial architecture of the project was prototyped rapidly using an AI-assisted "vibe coding" workflow. Once the foundation was down, I went through the entire codebase to manually review, extensively refactor, and validate everything.

We have completely phased out the vibe-coding methodology. The project has fully transitioned back to standard manual software engineering. Moving forward, I am personally writing the code, handling optimizations, and making the technical decisions to ensure long-term maintainability and high code quality.

The project is offered "as is" and without warranty. If you run into any issues, please open an issue.

License

This project is licensed under the GNU General Public License v2.0.