Ask HN: RTMP vs. WebRTC for a live streaming app?

2 pointsgetdreambits2 comments

For a simple live streaming (Android) app, which one would you choose and why? There'll be few viewers per stream (max 10) so scaling the service would involve supporting more ingest connections.

Most answers on the web seem to be from companies that have something to sell so you have to take them with a grain of salt.

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RTMP, proven, reliable and well supported. Probably a lot more open source code around for RTMP on Android than WebRTC. Various open source servers for RTMP. If latency is not an issue then you should look into DASH or HLS instead.

RTMP definitely is the more mature technology. Though with Google's backing, WebRTC is also fast approaching the point where it's usable and relatively easy to setup.

Good point about latency. We would like to have it as low as possible while maintaining good quality so a Twitch-style modified HLS might be the way to go.

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