YouTube Live Streaming Ingestion Protocol Comparison
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YouTube Live Streaming supports the following ingestion protocols for
third-party clients:
| Ingestion Protocol |
Encrypted |
Video Codecs Supported |
Comment |
| RTMP |
No |
H.264 |
Suitable for normal, low, or ultra-low latency live streaming. |
| RTMPS |
Yes |
H.264 |
Suitable for normal, low, or ultra-low latency live streaming. |
| HLS |
Yes |
H.264, H.265 (HEVC) |
Better for 4K resolution because of HEVC support. Supports HDR. Not suitable for ultra-low latency. |
| DASH |
Yes |
H.264, VP9 |
Better for 4K resolution because of VP9 support. Not suitable for ultra-low latency. |
Real Time Messaging Protocol (RTMPS) is a widely-used protocol for video
streaming that YouTube Live has accepted since the service began.
Real Time Messaging Protocol Secure (RTMPS) is a secure extension to RTMP.
RTMPS benefits both content creators and viewers by preventing man-in-the-middle
attacks on the ingestion side of livestreams. This ensures that all of a
creator's live streaming data—including video, audio, and control signals—is
securely transmitted to YouTube's servers, protecting it from tampering or
interception in transit.
The HTTP Live Streaming (HLS) and Dynamic Adaptive Streaming over HTTP
(DASH) ingestion protocols are also encrypted, like RTMPS. They also support
codecs that RTMP and RTMPS don't. Next-generation video codecs such as VP9 and
High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) can offer much better compression relative
to H.264, allowing users to either stream with higher quality for a given
bitrate or stream with the same quality while using a lower bitrate, which could
decrease buffering. This makes HLS or DASH ingestion a good choice for premium
content that requires higher quality and higher resolution, albeit at a
relatively higher latency. Note that HLS and DASH ingestion typically incur
greater latency than RTMP because HLS and DASH are segment-based.
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Last updated 2024-08-15 UTC.
[[["Easy to understand","easyToUnderstand","thumb-up"],["Solved my problem","solvedMyProblem","thumb-up"],["Other","otherUp","thumb-up"]],[["Missing the information I need","missingTheInformationINeed","thumb-down"],["Too complicated / too many steps","tooComplicatedTooManySteps","thumb-down"],["Out of date","outOfDate","thumb-down"],["Samples / code issue","samplesCodeIssue","thumb-down"],["Other","otherDown","thumb-down"]],["Last updated 2024-08-15 UTC."],[[["YouTube Live Streaming supports four ingestion protocols: RTMP, RTMPS, HLS, and DASH, each with different features and capabilities."],["RTMP and RTMPS are suitable for normal, low, or ultra-low latency live streaming, with RTMPS providing secure, encrypted transmission."],["HLS and DASH are encrypted, support advanced codecs like HEVC and VP9, and are better suited for 4K and high-resolution streaming but have higher latency."],["HLS and DASH offer improved video compression compared to H.264, allowing for higher quality at the same bitrate or equivalent quality with a lower bitrate."]]],["YouTube Live Streaming uses RTMP, RTMPS, HLS, and DASH protocols. RTMP and RTMPS, the latter being a secure extension, support H.264 and are suitable for low-latency streams. Encrypted HLS supports H.264 and H.265 (HEVC), while encrypted DASH supports H.264 and VP9, both being ideal for 4K and HDR content. HLS and DASH are segment based and offer better compression, but are not suitable for ultra-low latency.\n"]]
