Create a livestream

This guide provides instructions and information about creating a livestream:

• Understanding the stream object
• Ways to create a stream object
• Working with example API requests
• No-code stream creation (optional)

About the stream Object

It is important to note, that thestream object is the core building block of the Livepeer Studio platform.

In Livepeer Studio, thestream object has unique configuration data and metadata about all livestream sessions that are associated with the stream.

Note: historically, a stream object with a parentIdrepresented a single livestream session. This type of "child-session" stream object will be deprecated in an upcoming version of the API in favor of the session object.

What You Can Build Here

Implementation	Description
Create a stream for livestreaming	Broadcast livestreams of any duration
Create a stream to broadcast recordings	Broadcast 24/7 livestream of recordings

Technical Preparation

Before getting started, you can set up your environment to prepare for developing your application:

• Sign up for a free Livepeer Studio account
• Get an API key
• Access the API Reference

Ways to Create a Stream Object

There are two ways to create a stream object:

• Via the API
• Via the dashboard (no code)

Create a stream object with a POST request to the API

Send a POST request to https://livepeer.studio/api/stream. This creates a new Livepeer Studio stream object.

Use a Livepeer Studio API key as a part of the authorization header, and use a JSON body to specify the configuration for the stream. The only parameter you are required to set is the name of your stream.

If you do not define transcoding rendition profiles when creating the stream, a default set of profiles will be used with 720p, 480p, 360p and 240p renditions. To disable transcoding for your stream you have to explicitly set an empty array of profiles in your stream object. Beware that in that setup, your playback video will have the attributes of the source stream only and will not take advantage of adaptive bitrate streaming, likely buffering on playback.

Request

curl -X POST \
-H 'content-type: application/json' \
-H 'authorization: Bearer {api_key}' \
-d '{
  "name": "test_stream",
  "profiles": [
    {
      "name": "720p",
      "bitrate": 2000000,
      "width": 1280,
      "height": 720
    },
    {
      "name": "480p",
      "bitrate": 1000000,
      "width": 854,
      "height": 480
    },
    {
      "name": "360p",
      "bitrate": 500000,
      "width": 640,
      "height": 360
    }
  ]
}' \
https://livepeer.studio/api/stream

Response

This is an example response to the request above. streamKey, playbackId, and id are unique to the stream object. You will need the streamKey to broadcast live video and the playbackId to configure the playback URL to watch the live stream.

{
    "name":"test_stream",
    "profiles":[
        {"name":"720p","bitrate":2000000,"fps":30,"width":1280,"height":720},
        {"name":"480p","bitrate":1000000,"fps":30,"width":854,"height":480},
        {"name":"360p","bitrate":500000,"fps":30,"width":640,"height":360},
      ],
    "id":"ijkl61f3-95bd-4971-a7b1-4dcb5d39e78a",
    "createdAt":1596081229373,
    "streamKey":"abcd-uimq-jtgy-x98v",
    "playbackId":"efghb2mxupongp5k",
    {other asset object keys}
}

No-code stream creation with the Livepeer Studio Dashboard

1. Log in to the Livepeer Studio Dashboard
2. Navigate to the Streams page, livepeer.studio/dashboard/streams. On this page, you can create a new stream and delete streams. When you name your stream, pick a unique name and include URL-compatible characters only.
3. On the Stream page (livepeer.studio/dashboard/streams), you can also click on a stream to find out configuration and usage information.