lxstreamer

a light-weight, fast and cross-platform c++ library for http/s streaming and recording based on FFmpeg

Features

• streaming:
  • video/audio streaming for multiple sources
  • http streaming
  • optional https streaming with OpenSSLas dependency
  • sources could be any live stream, camera, webcam, file and whatever FFmpeg supports
  • custom stream encoding for video and audio
  • stream authentication
  • preferred transport container selection
• record:
  • record sources to mp4,mkv,... files
  • chunked record by size or duration
  • record to defined files without chunking
  • custom video and audio encoding
  • optional batch writes to disk
• webcam:
  • record
  • streaming with custom encoding
  • auto defined encoding config if not defined
• local media files:
  • stream, record and reencode
  • seek
  • speed change
• cross-platform: compiles for any platform with a c++17 compiler
• light-weight and fast with low overhead

Dependencies

• FFmpeg 5.1.* or later
• OpenSSL 1.1.* for https

Run depends.sh to get depedent libs for your current OS. All dependencies are put into 3rdparty directory.

depends.sh gets pre-compiled FFmpeg libraries that include the most commonly used decoders and encoders, optimized for a suitable build size. If you require additional encoders or decoders not included in these builds, you can provide your own compiled FFmpeg libraries.

Build

Run in terminal:

mkdir build
cd build
cmake /path/to/lxstreamer
make

lxstreamer is built as a static lib. Examples are also built by default which could be disabled by trunning off CMake option BUILD_EXAMPLES.

HTTPS option should be ON for https capability with OpenSSL libs in 3rdparty directory.

Usage samples

A simple http streamer on port 8000 streaming a local video file:

lxstreamer::streamer streamer{8000};
streamer.add_source({"src1", "path/to/local/video/file"});
streamer.start();

---

https streamer with multiple sources:

lxstreamer::streamer streamer{8000, true};
// set ssl cert and key file names in app dir (or full pathes)
streamer.set_ssl_cert_path("server.pem", "server.key");
streamer.add_source({"src1", "rtsp://192.168.1.10/main"});
streamer.add_source({"src2", "rtsp://192.168.1.49/main"});
...
streamer.start();

---

a streamer with a webcam as a source, streaming in h264 codec with max 500 kb/s bandwidth:

lxstreamer::streamer streamer{8000};

lxstreamer::source_args_t args;
args.name                              = "webcam1";
args.url                               = "avdevice::video=USB2.0_Camera";
args.video_encoding_view.codec         = lxstreamer::codec_t::h264;
args.video_encoding_view.max_bandwidth = 500; // kb/s
streamer.add_source(args);

streamer.start();

---

A streamer recording an added source in chunks of 100 MB mkv files, buffering packets and writing every 3 seconds to disk:

lxstreamer::streamer streamer{8000};
streamer.add_source({"src1", "rtsp://192.168.1.10/main"});

lxstreamer::record_options_t opt;
opt.format         = lxstreamer::file_format_t::mkv;
opt.file_size      = 100; // MB
opt.write_interval = 3; // seconds
streamer.start_recording("src1", opt);

streamer.start();

---

turn off stdout logging, make it verbose and use a custom handler to write messages and errors to files:

lxstreamer::streamer streamer{8000};

// create and open log files
std::ofstream trace_log("log_trace.txt", std::ios_base::app);
std::ofstream normal_log("log_normal.txt", std::ios_base::app);

lxstreamer::streamer::set_log_level(lxstreamer::log_level_t::trace);
streamer.set_log_to_stdout(false);
streamer.set_log_callback(
    [&](std::string str, lxstreamer::log_level_t level) {
        if (level == lxstreamer::log_level_t::trace) {
            trace_log << str << std::endl;
            trace_log.flush();
        } else {
            normal_log << str << std::endl;
            normal_log.flush();
        }
    });
...
streamer.start();

---

Notes

To get stream in a client the following format should be used:

• for http

http://{IP}:{PORT}/stream?source={NAME}

• for https

https://{IP}:{PORT}/stream?source={NAME}

For stream authentication you can set auth_session value when adding a source to streamer. Then clients should provide a session in stream query with the proper value:

https://{IP}:{PORT}/stream?source={NAME}&session={AUTH_SESSION}

License

Copyright (C) 2022-present Nejat Afshar nejatafshar@gmail.com

Distributed under the MIT License (http://opensource.org/licenses/MIT)