Comparison of streaming media systems
This is a comparison of streaming media systems. A more complete list of streaming media systems is also available.
General
The following tables compare general and technical information for a number of streaming media systems both audio and video. Please see the individual systems' linked articles for further information.
| Name | Creator | First Public Release (yyyy-MM-dd) | Latest Stable Version (Release Date) | Cost (USD) | license | Media | Media Player |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| VLC media player | VideoLAN | ? | 2.1.5 (2014-07-26) | 00000Free | GPL v2 | Audio/Video | Any with appropriate protocol support. |
| PeerCast | Giles | ? | 0.1218 (2007-12-17) | 00000Free | GPL | Audio/Video | {?} |
| Unreal Media Server | Unreal Streaming Technologies | 2003-09-15 | 11.0 (2015-04-20) | 00795$795 perpetual license | proprietary | Audio/Video | Flash, Silverlight, iOS, Set-Top boxes, Unreal Player |
| Flash Media Server | Macromedia/Adobe Systems | 2002-07-9 | 5.0.7 (2014-11-19) | 04500$4,500 | proprietary | Video | Flash Player |
| EvoStream Media Server | EvoStream | 2011-11-17 | 1.6.5 (2013-01-17) | 00995Free Trial licenses; Subscription Licenses at $25/month and $50/month; Perpetual License at $849; Amazon EC2 AMI | proprietary | Audio/Video | Flash Player, Adobe Air, Quicktime, VLC, iPhone/iPad/iPod touch, Android, Silverlight, set top boxes such as Amino and Roku, others. |
| Wowza Streaming Engine (formerly Wowza Media Server) | Wowza Media Systems | 2007-02-17 | 4.0.6 (2014-08-11)[1] | 00995Free Developer and Trial licenses; Subscription Licenses at $65/month; Perpetual Pro License at $1995; Amazon EC2 with embedded license starting at $0.15/hour | proprietary | Audio/Video/Data | Any with appropriate protocol support, including Adobe Flash, MPEG DASH clients, Microsoft Silverlight and other Smooth Streaming clients, VLC, Apple QuickTime, Apple Safari (HTML5), iPhone/iPad/iPod touch, 3GPP clients (Android, Blackberry, Symbian, etc.), IPTV set-top boxes, game consoles (Wii, PS3, Xbox 360), and others. |
| Darwin Streaming Server | Apple Inc. | 1999-03-16 | 6.0.3 (2007-05-10) | 00000Free | APSL | Audio/Video | Any with appropriate protocol support. |
| Flumotion Streaming Server | Flumotion | 2004-11-30 | 0.10.1 (2012-07-06) | 00000Free | LGPL | Audio/Video | Any with appropriate protocol support. |
| Firefly | Ron Pedde | ? | 0.2.4.1 (2007-10-21) | 00000Free | GPL | Audio | Any with appropriate protocol support. |
| FreeCast | Alban Peignier | 2004-09-14 | 2006-06-29 | 00000Free | GPL | Audio/Video | FreeCast client |
| Helix Universal Server | RealNetworks | 1994-01-01 | V15 (2012-11-08) | 05500Free for 12 months (Basic) and $1,000-$10,000 | proprietary | Audio/Video | Any with appropriate protocol support for PC (MPEG-DASH, Flash player, QuickTime, MS-Silverlight, Windows Media Player, RealPlayer, VLC, Mplayer, HTML5), Tablet & Mobile (Android (MPEG-DASH / HLS / RTSP), Blackberry, iOS, Symbian, HTML5) and OTT (HLS or MPEG-DASH) IPTV STBs devices. |
| Helix DNA Server | RealNetworks | 2003-01-22 | 11.1 (2006-06-10) | 00000Free | RCSL/RPSL | Audio/Video | Any with appropriate protocol support. |
| Windows Media Services | Microsoft | 1996-12-10 | 9.6 (2010-04-05) | 00000Free | proprietary | Audio/Video | Any with appropriate protocol support, including Windows Media Player and Microsoft Silverlight |
| IIS Media Services | Microsoft | 2008-11-07 | 4.1 (2011-11-09) | 00000Free | proprietary | Audio/Video/Data | Any with appropriate streaming protocol or HTTP progressive download support, including Windows Media Player, Microsoft Silverlight (in-browser, out-of-browser, Windows Phone), Adobe Flash, VLC, Apple QuickTime, Apple Safari, iPhone/iPad/iPod Touch, Android, IPTV set-top boxes, Xbox 360, and others. |
| Icecast | Xiph.Org Foundation | 1998-12 | 2.4.1 (2014-11-19) | 00000Free | GPL | Audio | Any with appropriate protocol support. |
| SHOUTcast | Nullsoft | 1998-12 | 2.4.2 (2014-10-30) | 00000Free | proprietary | Audio | Any with appropriate protocol support. |
| Feng | LSCube[2] | 2007-05-31 | 2009-10-14 | 00000Free | GPL | Audio/Video | Any with appropriate protocol support. |
| Logitech Media Server | Logitech | ? | 7.7.4 (2014-11-12) | 00000Free | GPLv2 | Audio | Various hardware and software clients available |
| Unified Streaming Platform | Unified Streaming | 2012 | 1.6.9 (2014-10-29) | 00995Free Trial license; Perpetual License; Amazon EC2 with embedded license | proprietary | Audio/Video | Any with appropriate protocol support. |
Operating system support
| Name | Windows | Mac OS X | Linux | Unix |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| VLC media player | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| PeerCast | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? |
| Unreal Media Server | Yes | No | No | No |
| Firefly | Yes | ? | Yes | Yes |
| Flash Media Server | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| EvoStream Media Server | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Wowza Streaming Engine | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Darwin Streaming Server | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Flumotion Streaming Server | No | Yes | Yes | ? |
| FreeCast | Yes | No | Yes | Yes |
| Helix Universal Server | Yes | No | Yes | Yes |
| Helix DNA Server | Yes | ? | Yes | Yes |
| Windows Media Services | Yes | No | No | No |
| IIS Media Services | Yes | No | No | No |
| Icecast | Yes | No | Yes | Yes |
| SHOUTcast | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Logitech Media Server | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Unified Streaming Platform | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Name | Windows | Mac OS X | Linux | Unix |
Container format support
Information about what digital container formats are supported.
| Name | 3GP | AVI | ASF | QuickTime | Ogg | OGM | Matroska | MP4 | MPEG transport stream | FLV | ABS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| VLC media player | ? | Yes | ? | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? |
| PeerCast | ? | ? | ? | ? | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
| Unreal Media Server | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? |
| Firefly | ? | No | ? | ? | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
| Flash Media Server | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | Yes | No | Yes | Yes |
| EvoStream Media Server | Yes | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Wowza Streaming Engine | Yes | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Darwin Streaming Server | Yes | ? | ? | Yes | ? | ? | ? | Yes | ? | No | No |
| Flumotion Streaming Server | ? | ? | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes | ? |
| FreeCast | ? | ? | ? | ? | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
| Helix Universal Server | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Helix DNA Server | ? | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | ? |
| Windows Media Services | ? | ? | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | No | No |
| IIS Media Services | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Icecast | ? | Yes | ? | ? | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | No | No |
| SHOUTcast | ? | Yes | ? | ? | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | No | No |
| Unified Streaming Platform | No | ? | ? | Yes | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Protocol support
Information about which internet protocols are supported for broadcasting streaming media content.
| Name | HTTP | MPEG DASH | WebRTC | RTSP | MMS | RTP | RTCP | UDP | TCP | RTMP | MPEG TS | Real Data Transport | WebM |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| VLC media player | Yes | ? | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? |
| PeerCast | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
| Unreal Media Server | Yes (HTTP Live Streaming, Smooth Streaming) |
? | No | Yes (receiving RTSP streams) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes (RTMP, RTMPT, Dynamic RTMP) |
Yes | ? | ? |
| Firefly | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
| Flash Media Server | Yes (HTTP Live Streaming,HTTP Dynamic Streaming) |
? | No | No | No | No | No | ? | ? | Yes | No | ? | ? |
| EvoStream Media Server | Yes (HTTP Live Streaming, Smooth Streaming, HTTP Dynamic Streaming) |
? | No | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes (RTMP, RTMPT, RTMPS, Dynamic RTMP) |
Yes | No | No |
| Wowza Streaming Engine | Yes (HTTP Live Streaming, Smooth Streaming, HTTP Dynamic Streaming) |
Yes |
No | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes (RTMP, RTMPE, RTMPTE, RTMPT, RTMPS, RTMP Dynamic Streaming) |
Yes | No | ? (Previewed at IBC & the NAB Show) |
| Darwin Streaming Server | No | ? | ? | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
| Flumotion Streaming Server | Yes | ? | ? | No | ? | No | ? | ? | ? | No | ? | ? | ? |
| FreeCast | Yes | ? | ? | No | No | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
| Helix Universal Server | Yes (HTTP Live Streaming, MPEG-DASH, HTTP Progressive Streaming) |
Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | ? |
| Helix DNA Server | Yes | No | No | Yes | No | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | Yes | ? |
| Windows Media Services | Yes (WM-HTTP) |
? | No | Yes (WM-RTSP) |
Yes, for WMS 9.0 and earlier; removed in WMS 2008 (9.5)[3] | Yes (WM-RTSP) |
No | Yes (WM-RTSP/U and MS-MSB) |
Yes (WM-RTSP/T and WM-HTTP) |
No | No | No | No |
| IIS Media Services | Yes | ? | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
| Icecast | Yes | ? | ? | No | No | No | No | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
| SHOUTcast | Yes | ? | ? | No | No | No | No | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
| Unified Streaming Platform | Yes (HTTP Live Streaming, Smooth Streaming, HTTP Dynamic Streaming) | Yes | ? | No | No | No | No | ? | ? | ? | Yes | No | No |
| Name | HTTP | MPEG DASH | WebRTC | RTSP | MMS | RTP | RTCP | UDP | TCP | RTMP | MPEG TS | Real Data Transport | WebM |
Features
| Name | Client Playback Synchronization | Web Interface | Graphical User Interface |
|---|---|---|---|
| VLC media player | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Logitech Media Server | Yes | Yes | No |
See also
- Community radio
- Comparison of video services
- Content delivery network
- Digital television
- Electronic commerce
- Grid casting
- Internet radio
- Internet radio device
- Internet television
- IPTV
- List of Internet radio stations
- List of music streaming services
- Multicast
- P2PTV
- Protection of Broadcasts and Broadcasting Organizations Treaty
- Push technology
- Streaming media
- Webcast
- Web television
References
- ↑
- ↑ "index : feng". LSCube.
- ↑ David Nelson (10 December 2009). "Windows Media protocol reference". Microsoft Corporation. Retrieved 23 February 2012.